


The Conspiracy of Subject 41T

by Duchess_Of_Dumpsters



Series: Multi-Wings AU [2]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Better timing Rendog, Danger Foxes, Gen, Good timing Doc, I'm writing this from memory, Impulse and Tango are rabidly protective of each other, M/M, Meddling Hippies, Multi-Wings AU, Permanent Death AU, Renbob is a probably separate character, SFW shipping, Self-appointed government, The same goes for Captain Angry Eyebrows, idiocy at its finest courtesy of Grian, maybe not so SFW injuries, my pen is only a little bloody, not so danger pillagers, oh yeah there's a time travel maybe, some details might be kinda off from cannon, weaponized flowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 08:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21716104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duchess_Of_Dumpsters/pseuds/Duchess_Of_Dumpsters
Summary: Sure, Grian wants his time machine back, but you know who wants to break into area 77 even more? Impulse, to get his boyfriend back- no, no hush, not villager Grian.
Relationships: Impulse/Tango
Series: Multi-Wings AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565188
Comments: 33
Kudos: 150





	1. Missing Lover

**Author's Note:**

> The Multi-Wings AU is one where I've decided to give all the hermits different wings depending on either their actual ease of flying in the series, their personality or if it just looks cool on them. I don't know if anyone else has done this specifically, but I do know winged hermits is a thing, especially Grian.  
So, everyone enjoy and lemme know what you think! I love getting feedback.

Impulse’s draconic wings snapped hard against the wind as he climbed higher into the air, his weren’t the largest or most powerful but they were still strong and sturdy, the scales had a subtle glisten to them, black scales stretched over the structure, gray in the segments between though there were bright yellow darts at the bottom of each one. He looked a bit like a kite, or a flag stolen by the wind sailing up over the hole in the mountain above Tango’s underground base. Once aligned with it Impulse folded his wings and dove down, threading the needle perfectly, slipping through the vertical cave like a perfectly aimed arrow. Once clear of the narrower space his wings snapped open again slowing his decent to a gentle glide which he directed towards the underground fort. Impulse smiled as he took the wonderful build in, as always, loving Tango’s boundless creativity. He touched down softly on the quartz stairs wrapping around a floor of empty shulkers ready to be used.

“Tango! You home handsome?” Impulse called with a smile as he started looking around for his dashing lover. His greeting echoed on empty walls however and he quickly realized he was alone. Smile slipping just a little at the emptiness he stepped into the nether portal, figuring Tango must be taking care of one of his farms or restocking his shop…

The haunting call of the ghasts grew more and more eerie each time passed down the hastily cobbled together pathways between farms and the main hub. Between every redstone marvel Impulse made the trek back to Tango’s base to see if he’d returned, at one point even leaving a sign requesting Tango wait for him. However as the day wore on and on, he found no sign of the one hermit he wanted to find. His worry spiked after having checked every other build Tango had and started heading back to his base once again, looking at the less than safe bridge from the mob farm he was leaving and a horrifying thought sliding into his mind. Without an ounce of hesitation Impulse ducked under the railing and sprang into the open, sweltering air of the nether. His wings whipping with fluid, agile movements to quickly carry him out over the lakes of lava and unforgiving red terrain. While Impulse didn’t doubt Tango’s ability to take care of himself, he was a bit concerned about his occasionally reckless nature or a well earned prank.

After thousands of blocks of nothing though, Impulse landed on a rocky outcropping not far from the entrance back to the tunnels to take a breath. Worried was an understatement, it wasn’t like this for any hermit to just… vanish. Not without reason. This left him very on edge and his stomach knotted up at the thought of anything going seriously wrong, he wasn’t sure why he had such a bad feeling about this, surely Tango was just… helping one of the other hermits with something. That had to be it, he rationalized, it had to be.

So wrapped up in his own mind he almost didn’t hear the telltale sound of a ghast spitting a fireball at him, Impulse moved more on instinct than rational thought, spinning fast and flaring his wings around him. The tip of his right wing caught the fiery projectile and launched it right back to its source, sending the ghast sinking into the lava in a blink. It left Impulse shaken, and smoldering so he decided that it might be best to head back.

One more time, he checked Tango’s base, finding it still empty and as late as it was, that’s where he stayed, flopping onto Tango’s bed and taking comfort in the scent that lingered there. He had aches from all over after the long and thorough search, tired and worried, the Hermit gave into the call of sleep, not bothering to tend his scorched and blistered wing. He didn’t feel much better when morning came and Tango was still not in his base. Sad and worried Impulse waited there for hours, hoping that he had just missed Tango and he’d be back… any moment, he’d return and fill this silent cave with his bombastic laughter.  
…  
...  
…  
He didn’t return. It was only the grumbling of Impulse’s own stomach that reminded him he had pets to feed at his own base and with a depressed sigh he stood and headed for the railing, leaping over, snapping his wings out wide and… A sharp pain jolted through his right wing, hitting his awareness with a blinding shock, sending him reeling and as he was in the air, he quickly hit the floor below. Colliding with the ground wasn’t quite as sharp a pain as the one in his wing had been, it was still jarring though, his entire body feeling the effect of the graceless impact, leaving him winded for several long seconds. When he finally managed to sit up he spit bloody dirt and grass out of his mouth. To add insult to injury… he heard a slime squelching his way.

Letting his pain and worry twist into frustration and anger Impulse staggered to his feet and drew his blade, turning on the giant, gelatinous creature with what Scar would have dubbed, the fury of a thousand Impulse’s. He was careful in how he darted forward, avoiding the random holes in the ground or further hurting himself as he danced to and fro, slicing the slime a dozen times over, the smaller and smaller slimes stood no more of a chance with more numbers as he wiped them out in precise sword strokes, leaving a scattering of slimeballs in his wake. That hostile mob dead at his feet he looked up to see if there were any others in the area, his eyes meeting the dark pits of a creeper, one that had evidently just witnessed the battle before it as it turned away and skulked off to the shadows to hide. With an annoyed huff Impulse flicked his blade, slinging residual slime off of the diamond surface and sheathing the blade back into its place. He scooped up the slimeballs before taking an ender pearl from his pack and with decent aim slung it up against the storage system in the room above. His anger was fast abating, pain and worry seeping back in at the edges of his mind while he pitched the slime balls into the appropriate chest and headed for the nether portal.

On the other side he gazed across the glass floor with the scaled down map beneath it that made up the nether hub’s main room, feeling a bit lost despite knowing where he was. He turned towards his own portal but a voice caught his attention.

“Impulse! Oh my goodness what happened to you?” It was False, she must have been heading for her own base, her portal was quite close to Tango’s. He turned to face her, not even fully registering her question.

“Have you seen Tango?” It was clear that was all that was on his mind, his tired tone lacking it’s normal cheer with instead a blanket of worry.

“No, I haven’t.” She admitted, worry redoubling as she came closer to him, her green and pink hummingbird wings twitched anxiously, a telltale sign of her concern for her friends. “Impulse, do you need help?”

“Just let him know I’m looking for him if you see him.” He asked, his tone a lot less hopeful sounding than he’d intended.

“Yeah, definitely. Why don’t you check the new village? Lot of other hermits have been working out there.” She suggested.

“Yeah, I’ll do that, I hadn’t thought of that actually.” He admitted, almost sounding relieved.

“You better patch up that wing first.” She said firmly.  
He glanced at the upper level of the nether hub, he couldn’t reach it as easily like this. “Yeah, of course, home first, then I’ll go check it out.”

“Alright, you let me know if you need anything.” She insisted before continuing on her way, leaving Impulse to the eerie ambiance of the nether until he stepped through his own portal.

He was irritated with himself now, why hadn’t he realized that’s where Tango probably was? He may have set up a temporary base while gathering up resources from the area. It made sense, he told himself as he fed his dogs then took some time to set up an automated feeding system that would dispense food for the pooches while he was away. Working with redstone soothed his nerves a bit but he couldn’t help that he was still a bit anxious. Something wasn’t _right_ with all of this but he pushed that thought aside, he gathered up what he needed for the longer journey and set out. However he again neglected the care his wing needed, forcing himself into the stinging air of the nether once back in the hub, ignoring the now dull, throbbing pain in his wing. Once up on the second level he folded them back and set off on foot, then on what was finished of the ice boat road, his mind spinning with possibilities and the longing for Tango’s embrace. That thread of hope that Tango would be there kept him moving without distraction until he finally reached the portal for the new village. His breath stolen away momentarily when he laid eyes on the place a different sort of war had been waged. The massive, towering structures were each impressive in their own right and he had a moment of awe wash through him before waning light drew his attention to the fact he best find a place to spend the night.

He jumped off the platform of the tower the nether portal was nestled in and his wing protested the soft glide to the ground with a burning pain but Impulse ignored that, glancing around at the houses to see if anyone was home, but it mostly seemed to be villagers at the moment, not many though. Figuring no one would mind he picked one of the ones that looked like it had a bit of room for an extra bed and slipped inside. holing up for the night. He didn’t sleep well, anxious still, on his short walk to this building he hadn’t seen anything that looked like Tango’s style, but he hadn’t seen the whole village so he couldn’t count that out just yet.

The sun had barely crested the horizon when Impulse left, feet treading the paths of the village with a rhythmic pace, his eyes trailing from one build to the next, the styles mostly clicking as to who had done what, or what line of thought would have led to a design. Nothing _nothing at all_ looked like Tango’s style and his anxiety was starting to rise. He found himself standing next to a random composter and staring up at the massive towers as he contemplated where else he could look, considering taking to the air and spiralling out from the village. He was alone with his thoughts, he hadn’t seen any other hermits in the immediate area and that leads to the thought that they may have started branching out further than the village to build.

“Oh, man, Impulse… Are you okay?” The voice was unexpected and startled Impulse spun to face the hermit who surprised him, his wings flaring a bit as he did and he flinched when the other hermit caught the wounded wing in his hand. “That looks nasty, is it infected? You might want to deal with that.”

“I’m fine Doc. Have you seen Tango?” Impulse asked, pulling his wing free and folding it behind his back but Doc gave it a suspicious look.

“Not lately.” He shrugged, his cybernetic wings swaying slightly at the motion. The red, glass looking panels glowed even in the daylight, looking like they were suspended under the metal arms by an invisible web.

“Any idea where he is?” Impulse pushed, worry rising again.

“That’s something I’d be asking you.” Doc pointed out. “You haven’t seen any strange creatures have you? That infection isn’t anything alien is it?”

“Alien… _what?_ No… it’s from a ghast. Just, whatever, let Tango know I’m looking for him if you see him.” Impulse requested and started to move away from Doc, his banter being too strange for Impulse to handle at the moment.

“Oh, sure thing.” Doc said dismissively before walking in a different direction.

Impulse just shook his head as he took a path winding through the village that lead to a flying saucer with a bubble column in the center of its tractor beam. It was a nice build and looking at the materials he wondered if it was Scar or Mumbo who built it. From the trees he heard a snap and that drew his attention to someone huddled in the underbrush nearby, they didn’t look familiar but… they looked angry. They weren’t an illager either, but had a crossbow… aimed at him. Before Impulse could call out to that person though, someone else grabbed him by the arm, they were running and he found himself stumbling after.

“Quick! They’re after you!” It was Grian, though he was dressed differently than usual, he had flowers in his hair and beads laced onto some of the feathers of his robin like wings… That wasn’t to say it didn’t look good on him, as the red beads brought some interest to the otherwise plain brown feathers, though when his wings were spread fully the line of long red feathers of the underside could be seen. He really didn’t have much time to focus on that though, mind reeling from sudden whiplash.

“What’s going on?” Impulse demanded as he tried to match Grian’s pace. Something exploded behind them and a shower of sparks hit their backs, it made his injured wing burn all the more and he hissed in pain.

“**Just run!**” Grian reiterated, picking up speed. So Impulse did just that, running as fast as he could from the potentially murderous guy with the crossbow. Impulse’s heart raced almost as fast as his mind, his worry for Tango spiking higher than before at the realization that something might be _hunting_ the hermits. He let Grian drag him along, bobbing and weaving into the forest, the cracking of explosions and showers of sparks hitting trees near them as they went. They reached the edge of the woods, and a new road starting up and here Grian spun, letting go of Impulse to dig into both pockets and sling fistfuls of bonemeal on the ground, summoning a myriad of flowers in their wake before grabbing Impulse’s arm again and returning to the run through a new town. Passively Impulse realized this town was entirely False’s work but they didn’t stop here, running hard still, weaving between buildings then back out of the town and circling round a very large and imposing fence that Grian didn’t go through despite it looking quite inefficient as an actual barrier. Impulse had to focus on the run to keep from tripping once they reached unlevel ground and Grian wasn’t slowing down despite the fact they seemed to have lost the guy chasing them. Without any more warning than he’d been given when Grian grabbed him at the beginning of this mad dash, he jumped straight into the river, pulling Impulse with him.

The water was chilly and after working up a bit of a sweat on the run, it was a very unpleasant shock to the system, worse so for the open wound on his wing. Had Grian not still been pulling him along Impulse was fairly certain he’d have drowned. It took longer than Impulse would have liked to make it to the other side and out of the water but he was relieved to reach the opposite shore regardless. Grian finally stopped, looking back across the water and thankfully holding Impulse steady, which was the moment he used to cough water and catch his breath. His breaths were ragged but once they were less of an effort to drag in he looked back across the river to see what held Grian’s attention so raptly. Impulse tensed, there was a truck there, it held surveillance equipment in the back and _that guy_ was standing on the roof, his crossbow trained on them.

“Who _is_ that?” Impulse gasped, glancing back to Grian who had his trident in hand now, risen to throw, it was a stalemate, Impulse realized.

“Captain Angry Eyebrows. He works for Doc and Scar.” Grian explained, not breaking eye contact with the aggressive Captain.

Impulse fell silent, somehow having even more questions now as he looked at the guy threatening them, his purple moth-like wings were very much like Scar’s but that face was just so mean looking it gave Impulse chills. Even during the war, no one had looked that threatening. In a flash the stalemate ended, rockets fired first and Grian let his trident fly, Impulse tensed, suddenly sure he was about to die but the trident struck the rocket midair in a useless shower of sparks. The enchanted sea weapon returned to Grian who caught it with effortless, fluid action, bringing it back up for a second throw, not giving the Captain time to reload his crossbow and instead scramble off of the hood of the truck. There was a metallic ring before the Trident returned again.

“Leave us alone!” Grian shouted rather than trying to spear the militant aggressor again.

“That man needs to be contained!” The captain shouted back.

“You lay a hand on him and I will cut it off!” Grian snapped back intensely.

“Fine, let your whole commune get infected then!” He shouted back and with that vanished down the other side of the hill.

“Come on, let’s get you into camp.” Grian said, relaxing with the pursuer apparently giving up for now. Impulse could only nod, exhausted and shaking, Grian continued to hold him steady as they rounded the cliffside and headed up a hill, walking past a log wall, then into a ring of trees and bamboo. Inside that ring sat a couple of RV’s, there was a campfire in the middle and a handful of random shulker boxes outside one of the RV’s. As they neared the caravans Grian called out.

“Renbob! We have a friend but he’s hurt!” Grian’s voice rang through the camp and a few moments later another person Impulse didn’t recognize stepped out of one of the other RV’s, he did look a bit like Rendog but older, his large bat-like wings, unmistakable for the flying fox bat, were very similar to Rendog’s as well. Though this new person’s wings had a much redder tint to the fur than Rendog’s brown ones, as if this new guy spent even more time in the sun, perhaps they were related or from the same place or something along those lines. Honestly, Impulse was starting to feel like he’d slipped into some sort of mirror dimension. 

“Can you explain what’s going on now?” Impulse asked, slumping down on one of the Shulkers once Grian got him close enough. The stranger that had answered to the name of Renbob came over to them and Impulse was too tired to protest his wing being examined this time. He looked this time as well, he hadn’t actually paid much heed to it, even after Doc had pointed it out, but now he could see why it would be troubling. The burn had blistered and the blister must have busted at some point, leaving dead scales to hang loose against his wing on the back side. Tears trailed up from that point and the exposed, thin flesh was swollen, pussy and bloody. There were a few scabs that looked like they’d been mostly dislodged in the river and taking in the damage brought the pain back to the forefront of his mind, it was dizzying.

“Let’s get you patched up and I’ll explain everything.” Grian promised, digging through one of his other shulkers while Renbob hurried back to his caravan to grab supplies as well.

“Is Tango with you guys?” Impulse asked, his hope waned but there were three of these RV’s…

“No… He’s not back on the main island?” Grian asked, pausing to look at Impulse with worry. Impulse only shook his head. “How long has he been missing?”

“A few days now.” Impulse admitted, his shoulders sinking as he watched the concern knit onto Grian’s face.

“That’s bad… they might have him. I can’t imagine why though.” Grian admitted, digging out a few more supplies, Renbob returning with a few potions his his hands.

“What happened to you out there, brother? You look like you walked off a battlefield man.” Renbob stated, setting the potions down before uncorking one and pouring it over the wound.

Impulse gasped against the pain but that quickly faded as the area went numb and he had to sigh in relief before answering. “I got hit by a ghast and then just… neglected to patch myself up. Got hurt a couple times after too. It’s been a bit of a rough few days.”

“It definitely shows.” Grian nodded, handing Renbob a bowl and a few different flowers and other plants. “Here, I don’t have the hang of this one yet.”  
Renbob nodded and took the offered items, starting to mash pieces of the plants and mix in a few drops of stuff from different bottles.

“So, long story short, Doc and Scar stole my time machine and put it in their military base and now they’ve started grabbing anything they think is suspicious or dangerous and locking it away.” Grian started explaining and Impulse sighed.

“So they probably _did_ take Tango. Will they ever let him go? What is wrong with Doc and Scar? This is so extreme…”

“I know but don’t you worry, Impulse.” Grian said, placing both hands on Impulse’s shoulders and meeting his gaze with an intensity that only comes from a man with a serious purpose. “If he’s in there we _will_ get him back. We’ve got plans to break in, it’s gonna take time but we’ve got this. As a matter of fact, we could use your skills.”

“You’ve got them.” Impulse agreed, this was his only lead, his only hope. Grian nodded, picking up a pair of very sharp looking sheirs and dumping some of another potion over the blades before moving to very carefully trim the dead scales off of Impulse’s wing. He found himself very glad for the numbness.

Once the wound was properly prepared Renbob came around with the bowl of paste and slathered it on, coating the area completely. Grian followed that with a large bandage he’d cut from a bolt of fabric and carefully placed it over the wound. Between the salve and a bit of slime around the edges it stuck down to Impulse’s wing easily.

“That was a really bad wound man, it’s probably still gonna scar but my remedy will have it healed up in no time. Better stay grounded till then though.” Renbob assured Impulse.

“Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help.” Impulse said, offering as much of a smile as he’d managed in several days.

“Anything for a hippie brother.” Renbob smiled.

“Yeah, welcome to the Hippie Commune.” Grian grinned, the mischievous sparkle to his eyes made it clear this had been his idea. “We’re gonna stand up to The Man and take back what they’ve stolen from us.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Impulse nodded then glanced around. “So who’s in the third RV?”

“That’s Rendog, speaking of, where is he?” Grian asked, glancing to Renbob.

“He went on a supply run man, said he’d be back soon.” The older hippie answered, cleaning up the leftover supplies.

“Oh, good. Well, in the meantime Impulse you can rest in my RV if you want and Renbob here makes some amazing beetroot soup if you’re hungry.” Grian offered.

“Both things sound great… I haven’t eaten… since I realized Tango was missing actually.” Impulse admitted. Grian’s eyes went wide at that and Renbob hurried back to his RV once again.

“Goodness dude, you’re gonna kill yourself if you keep that up.” Grian scolded.

“I know, I wasn’t thinking clearly, something seemed really off about Tango going missing and now I guess I know why, if he is there… we don’t know that for certain.” Impulse said, worry sinking in again.

“Don’t talk like that, we may not know but it makes sense. I’ll check with some of the other hermits while you rest and make sure he isn’t just hold up somewhere else. If he is he can join us too, right?”

“Right.” Impulse nodded, sure Tango would jump right in the middle of these shenanigans. The next thing he knew there was a bowl of warm soup shoved into his hands and he had to admit, it did smell good. He was reminded of just how hungry he was and didn’t hesitate to polish off three bowls. Grian sat nearby weaving flowers into another headband which he plonked onto Impulse’s head once he’d finished.

“So what was up with the bonemeal earlier?” Impulse asked, reminded of that moment now.

“Captain Angry Eyebrows is allergic to flowers.” Grian smirked, tapping the one on his headband. “Never leave camp without them, or bone meal.”

“Noted.” Impulse nodded.

“Get some rest, if there are answers out there I’ll be back with them by the time you’re up again.” Grian promised, Impulse nodded, taking comfort that Grian was taking up the hunt, he was an investigator in his spare time from what Impulse had heard.

“Thank you.” Impulse said, pulling himself to his feet then hobbling into Grian’s RV. He heard the builder take to the air behind him and tried to keep the thread of hope close as he collapsed into the bed at the back of the RV.


	2. Hippie Brothers

When Impulse woke up the next morning it was early, the sun was just rising over the horizon but he felt a lot better than he had previously. He got up, stretched and checked his wing. It didn’t appear that the wound had bled through the bandage so that was a good sign, the numbness had worn off but it wasn’t hurting now either. With a sigh of relief he fixed Grian’s bed back the way he’d found it and stepped out of the RV.

Sitting by the freshly stocked campfire Renbob was weaving some strips of leather and listening to the radio, he had it turned low, so as not to disturb anyone who was sleeping it seemed.

“Good morning, Renbob.” Impulse said as he came over, sitting beside his fellow hippy.

“Oh, good morning, I have something for you.” Renbob smiled, picking up a pair of sandals from beside him and handing them over, as well as a couple of beaded bracelets.

“Thanks! I guess I should dress the part, huh?” Impulse chuckled.

“I’ll be a good look on you.” Renbob nodded, and Impulse accepted the gifts.

“Did you make these?” He asked curiously as he slipped the sandals on, setting his river ruined shoes aside.

“Yep, it’s really relaxing to just sit down and make things, man, you should try it out.” He suggested.

“Yeah, I think I will, man, I think I will.” Impulse nodded, at ease in Renbob’s company, admiring his new bracelets now that they were in place, it was a nice feeling of acceptance.

“Since you’re up I’m gonna head into town and see about selling some of my beetroot soup man, need gas for the RV.”

“Alright, any idea what Grian has planned that needs my skills?”

“Not a clue man, he’s a slick one so I bet it’s really clever. You can ask Rendog when he gets up if Grian’s not back.” Renbob said, picking up a shulker, the light clinking of jars ringing from it as he did. Impulse nodded.

“Just be careful, that Captain Angry Eyebrows seems pretty dangerous.”

“I’ll be alright man, don’t worry about me.” Renbob assured him before heading off, leaving him in the quiet camp. The radio on low and the fire crackling were the only sounds.

This left Impulse to his own thoughts for a little while. He was still worried about Tango, of what might be happening to him if he was trapped in the military compound right next to this camp, he tried to push aside any wild speculation but it was hard to do after that near rabid chase yesterday, he’d never experienced anything quite like that and he was pretty sure he’d be a whole lot worse off if that militant goon had gotten his hands on him.

“Morning Impulse, how are you?” He was drawn from his thoughts by Rendog’s voice.

“Better than I was yesterday, but still worried about Tango.” He admitted.

“Renbob told me about him going missing, it’s troubling and Grian isn’t back yet. I can at least tell you he was in New Hermitvill about four days ago.” Rendog offered.

“Seriously? So he really might be here somewhere?”

Rendog nodded. “Could be, I saw him come out of the nether portal but I didn’t see any new builds spring up, then here you are looking for him. Awfully suspicious man, I’m gonna have some harsh words for Doc and Scar if they’ve kidnapped Tango.”

Impulse had to wonder what harsh words from Rendog would be, he was so laid back and easy going, even during the war… it was hard to imagine.  
“You’ll have to get in line and I won’t guarantee there’ll be much left.” Impulse said with dead seriousness that almost seemed to have startled the other hermit.

“Remind me to never get on your bad side.” Rendog said, only half kidding. Before either could say anything more there was a rustling of wings and Grian landed beside them.

“No one has seen Tango in days, the last was Xeyezoomah four days ago in the nether, said he was heading to New Hermitvill though, so he’s been in the area.” Grian stated, wings folding down behind him.

“That corroborates with what I saw.” Rendog nodded.

“False hasn’t seen him though… Doc claimed not to either but he only said ‘lately’ and then started questioning me about aliens.” Impulse said thoughtfully.

“That explains why Captain Angry Eyebrows was already after you.” Grian noted. “I overheard him assuring Doc he’d catch you. That’s when I went in search of you.”

“I’m glad you did, I don’t want to know what they’d have done to me… I’m scared for Tango.” Impulse admitted.

“Well… As far as Xizumiavoid knows, no one has died or anything so Tango should be alright.” Grian offered, which brought a sigh of relief from Impulse.

“Why do you say his name different and still completely wrong every time you mention Xisuma?” Rendog questioned which only brought a laugh out of Grian.

“Anyway, have you shown Impulse the secret base yet?” Grian asked, not answering Ren’s question.

“Not yet, shall we?”

“Secret base?” Impulse asked, raising an eyebrow in only slight surprise.

“Yep, this way.” Grian grinned, leading the way to Renbob’s RV. Impulse followed without question and after a bit of awkward shuffling at the bathroom door, he realized there was a hidden piston door in the toilet. It was a bit of an unnerving drop in a tight space, but then it opened up into a large underground cave of dirt, filled with mushrooms and flowers.

“Oh wow this is cool.” Impulse complimented as he came to a stop next to Grian.

“There’s much more to it.” Grian chuckled, turning on yet another stereo before leading the way into another cavernous room, all dirt as well but surprisingly… there was heavy digging equipment. Impulse had to admit Grian actually was very serious about this supposid time machine. Grian led the way over to an unsuspicious chunk of dirt wall and activated some hidden redstone, bringing a grin to Impulse’s face, the tunnel was short and a pair of armor stands were playing chess.

“So that’s a red herring?” Impulse laughed.

“Yep, the real entrance to the tunnel is over here.” Grian said, leading the way over a few blocks and just… removed the dirt. Impulse laughed, it was simple but brilliant, on the other side was a very large, very long tunnel, they didn’t go in though.

“We will be working on that while you work above ground.” Rendog explained and Grian nodded.

“We need a big countdown clock facing Area 77. Think you can do that?” Grian asked.

“Oh, for sure, leave it to me.” Impulse nodded and with that they showed him the way back out of the hidden cave. 

He was glad to have a redstone task to focus on, though it started with a base of scaffolding so he could get the clock high enough that it could be seen from anywhere within the Area 77 fence. He did his best not to get too distracted watching the compound from his high vantage point but any time there was movement he had to look. There were things going on over there, he saw people moving around down there, he hesitated to call them hermits if it was true that they really had kidnapped Tango. If they’d hurt him then redstone wouldn’t be the only red substance to stain Impulse’s hands and that thought scared him a little. Doc and Scar were his friends but… they were Tango’s friend too so the thought of them turning on him meant they’d have turned their backs on all hermitkind. Impulse couldn’t bear the thought of letting them get away with hurting anyone… but especially not Tango.

Realizing he was spending more time staring at Area 77 than actually working on figuring out how to wire up the countdown he decided to take a break, so with a soft sigh he carefully climbed down the scaffolding, having to actively remind himself not to use his wings yet. Looking around camp he noticed there was a shulker off to the side of the other RV’s now, it had a sign with it and he went over to read it.

‘Feel free to build yourself an RV brother.’

Brought some level of peace at the continued welcoming attitude of his new hippie brothers he was able to take a deep breath and refocus on his immediate tasks. He enjoyed building his temporary home away from home, it made his position as a hippie feel a bit more grounded once he was firmly part of the circle of caravans. That finished and what few supplies he’d brought with him settled into their new home he set back out to continue working on the redstone, he worked with slightly better focus. He tried not to look at the military base just over the trees to lessen his distraction. He wasn’t sure why Grian wanted a countdown but it was likely to be something entirely over the top considering this was, in fact _Grian_ after all.

“Hey! Impulse, get down here!” Rendog called up to him and drew Impulse from his work, he was nearly done but hadn’t realized it had gotten dark. Glancing up he saw the full moon was high in the sky and he realized he’d been at this for hours now.

Dusting his hands off on his shorts he spread his wings to fly down and a small twinge in his wing reminded him that he wasn’t supposed to be using them. He sighed and used the scaffolding again, even though it took a bit more time he needed to let his wing heal. On reaching the bottom the fatigue started actually setting in.

“You gotta get some rest my man, but it is looking good.” Rendog said, looking up at the redstone contraption settled on scaffolding.

“Thanks, I think it will work the way you guy- we need it to.” Impulse said, correcting himself midsentense even though he didn’t know what the countdown was for.

“Perfect, glad you decided to join us.” Rendog said, looking back to him with a smile.

“Honestly it was the best option.” He admitted with a yawn and turned for his RV. “I’ll get right back on it in the morning.”

“Don’t forget to eat something, Grian grilled up some steaks up earlier.” Rendog advised before heading off towards the log fence next to the gardens. Impulse made a confirming noise as he walked back into the ring of RV’s. Despite how quiet it was, despite the fact that Grian and Renbob were probably asleep, the food left out for him and the way the others looked out for him drove home the point that he wasn’t in this bizarre situation alone. He had hope they would find Tango, but worried that Tango might not be alright.

He tried to push those thoughts away yet again, tried to focus on the good food and peaceful ambiance of the night, it wasn’t long before he was settled in bed again. The amount of days Tango had been missing was beginning to stack up, that was the last thought that crossed his mind before he fell asleep. 

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Impulse’s sleep was fitful that night, images of dark, dank underground halls, of rooms filled with strange equipment, of evidence illuding to horrible experements, interrigations or torture. Impulse wandered those halls unending in search of Tango but finding nothing at all. It wasn’t until sunlight became impossible to ignore that he was drawn up out of the unpleasant sleep.  
Sitting up Impulse rubbed his face and heaved a heavy sigh, trying to shake the images of the dream but it wasn’t easy to do, the fear they instilled in him was deep even as he tried to drown it out with any sort of logic. Doc and Scar wouldn’t go that far.

They wouldn’t…

They…

“Yeah, that’s my reactor!” Scar’s voice bled through the door of the RV.

_They were outside._

Impulse bolted from his bed in a heartbeat, snatching his trident on the way out the door, he hit the grass outside his caravan with a light thud, just in time to see Scar removing the reactor core from the back of Renbob’s RV.

“Hey!” He shouted, instantly unsure of exactly what to do as they looked his way. To his surprise they turned to run, then scrambled to run a different direction. Glancing that way he saw Grian running up the hill, sword in hand. Doc and Scar scarpered out of the camp through the garden as Grian gave chase but as Impulse fell into step with him Grian tucked the sword behind his back.

“It’s alright guys, we’re all peace and love here! You don’t have to run! Come in, hang out.” Grian called after them.

“Says the guy with the sword!” Doc called back, not making any move to return.

“Old habits die hard.” Grian laughed.

“I’m not letting them off that easy.” Impulse snarled as he pushed past Grian and broke into a run. “I want answers!”

“Impulse, no!” Grian cried after him.

Doc and Scar took to the air but Impulse swung, letting loose, not of his trident, but of an ender pearl that struck Scar square in the back, the imposing angry enderman face the markings on Scar’s wings made up did nothing to deter the hermit. It interrupted the beat of his polyphemus moth-like wings an instant before Impulse teleported up, grabbing Scar’s shoulders and sending them both into the river as there was no chance of the other hermit’s insect like wings holding them both in the air, and those very same purple moth like appendages would be useless while wet. Scar struggled to twist around and strike at Impulse but the furious hermit took the hit like it was nothing, dragging Scar to the embankment with a vice-like grip that clearly caused a bit of pain. Impulse pinned the struggling potential kidnapper to the dirt, drawing his sword out and putting it to Scar’s throat as he leaned in closer. He saw fear flicker in the other hermit’s eyes and it only drew more furocity from Impulse, like a guardian with a taste of blood.

“_**What have you done with Tango?!**_” Impulse growled, voice so deep and threatening he almost frightened himself.

_Almost._

“He’s safe.” Scar led with, forcing his voice calmer than his eyes betrayed. “There’s no need for violence, Impulse, please, calm yourself.”

“_**Where is he? You’ll let him go if you know what’s-**_” He was cut off suddenly when a force struck him, forcing him and his blade off of Scar and sending him rolling. When Impulse came to a stop a shadow fell over him and looking up he saw a threatening figure that rivaled his own ire.

Doc loomed over Impulse, trident raised over him, ready to strike down devastatingly, the look in Doc’s eyes was easily as irate as Impulse’s own. “Give me one good reason not to strike you down. You’ve assaulted an agent of the law,”

“No one agreed to your laws or self appointed positions!” Impulse snapped, cutting Doc off, but that didn’t seem to do anything but tighten the tension and that trident came swinging down with lighting speed, in a blink Impulse expected to be very dead. Instead however, there was a metallic ring and the trident dug into the ground mere centimeters from Impulse’s body, another trident tangling it’s tines in the would-be murderweapon.

“That’s _**enough**_.” Came Rendog’s voice, a firm, unwavering tone washing over them like rain on a forest fire. He retrieved his trident and stood defiantly between Impulse and Doc. “There will be no bloodshed here.”

“You’re so called hippie friend is the violent one, I thought you lot were supposed to be peaceful.” Doc retorted.

“There is a strong difference between peaceful and helpless. We will defend ourselves if we need to, if there is no other choice. We are here to protest peacefully, Doc, but we are not sheep awaiting slaughter.” Ren’s voice held a level of seriousness that Impulse had never heard before.

“Impulse is the one who attacked Scar.” Doc defended, but he backed off a bit. When he moved Impulse was able to see past him, to where Grian was helping Scar off the ground, Scar looked shaken and a sense of guilt started to settle in.

“Not unprovoked, a delayed blast but a reaction to you two’s actions nonetheless.” Ren stated, not backing down, defending Impulse against what Impulse would have thought to be Ren’s own best friend.

“Fine… I will let this one slide, this time. We are no less helpless though, setting foot on Area 77 is grounds for elimination, you have been warned.” Doc said harshly but then turned on his heel dismissively. He went to check on Scar, but the three were too far away for Impulse to hear their conversation. Not that he’d have the attention to listen as Ren turned around and offered a hand to Impulse who took it almost sheepishly.

“Don’t do that again.” Rendog said firmly, shoulders squared and serious expression now turned on Impulse, it was almost more frightening than Doc’s angry one. “You get into another spat like that and I won’t be saving you. There’s no reason to attack Scar and we aren’t out for blood anyway. We aren’t _murderers_ Impulse and on top of that Scar’s the harmless one. No more attacking unless they attack first, **understood**?”

“Y-yes sir.” Impulse said with as steady a voice as he could, Rendog was right, he had gone overboard and with the rage spent he felt almost sick. He couldn’t hold Ren’s gaze, having to look away as shame set in. “I’m sorry… I’m just worried about Tango.”

“Save that kind of behavior for if we find Tango hurt and those two deserving of a good pummeling. No killing though. You know Xisuma won’t stand for it, none of us will nor will any of us be happy with someone pushed to that for self defense.”

“I wasn’t going to kill him!” Impulse said sharply, eyes snapping back to meet Ren’s, that stern expression did not shift.

“It didn’t look like that from where I was.” Grian said grimly. “And it especially didn’t look that way from Scar’s position.”

Impulse deflated, taking a step back. “I… I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“It had better not.” Rendog stated before stalking off, seeming to need to take a breather to calm down and that just added to Impulse’s guilt.

Grian let out a little huff, drawing Impulse’s attention back to him, already Grian seemed to have relaxed. “Come with me for a bit, Impulse.”

“Alright…” Impulse sighed, following Grian without argument as he trailed through the garden at a slow stroll.

“Try not to get so riled up, alright? Everything’s gonna work out just fine, it’ll be fun.” Grian said, pausing at the end of the path, turning to look at Impulse over his shoulder. Meeting Impulse’s gaze a moment Grian fell silent, as if considering something but then he let out a shaky, awkward laugh. “Man, I’m glad you’re not on their side.”

“Uh… yeah, you don’t have anything to worry about there.” Impulse assured him, the laugh escaping him almost forced with how unsteady it was but somehow it still managed to lift some of his tension. Grian turned to face him more fully and rested a hand on Impulse’s arm, offering one of his big, friendly smiles.

“Come on, let’s go work on that countdown clock, there’s a lot of work we need to do still.” With a nod Impulse fell into step with Grian, burying himself in the tasks his hippie brothers had laid out. It wasn’t long before the countdown was up in working order and Grian had wrapped it in a nice looking frame with spindly legs reaching to the ground. With that done they moved focus to the giant RV in a missile silo that Impulse had somehow not noticed until then as well as a flower farm, there were _so many_ flowers. Rendog rejoined them somewhere during the work and seemed to have forgiven Impulse for his outburst, much to the hermit’s relief. If he never saw that serious side of Ren again it would be too soon. With as much done as they could manage for the day they set the clock and Impulse’s surprise was plastered all over his face when Grian told him how long.

“Only three?”

“Yep, three days.” Grian said with a nod, absolutely confident that his plans would be ready by then.

“Alright.” Impulse agreed, trusting Grian and a bit relieved there wasn’t a longer wait before they made their move. He hit the controls to set the countdown to three days, with a nod between the three of them Impulse tossed an ender pearl down while Grian and Ren glided back to the grass. Impulse glanced at the bandage still clinging to his wing as he waited on the two to catch up, the enderpearl may be near instant but it was greatly limited and risky in it’s own right. He missed flying on his own wings already but that was also why he didn’t risk hurting them further now.

The three of them walked in comfortable silence as they rounded the front of Rendog’s RV something new waited on them, set safely away from the fire but in a still obvious position. Sat on a table of scaffolding was a barrel, the instantly curious Grian headed over, opening the container removing a disk from it. Without any hesitation Grian took it over to Renbob’s stereo and popped it in, quickly a slightly obscured but still recognizable voice spilled from the speakers.

“Dear hippies, you don’t know me and I don’t know you, let’s keep it that way.” The disk played but Grian interjected.

“Don’t know, hardly, that’s Cub!” The prankster laughed.

“What I have is information for sale, information on the mysterious Area 77. How do I prove this? With this message you will find a map detailing the location of something that recently went missing from your camp.” As the disk played Rendog checked and sure enough there was a map.

“The reactor!” Rendog said and peeking over his shoulder Impulse could see there was a couple of other things marked down on the map, the one that caught his attention and made him uneasy, it was listed as ‘unspeakable things’ and he wasn’t sure just how worried to be. What exactly would warrant the vex into dubbing something that?

“How do I know these things? I know everything. Through rigorous investigation I have managed to obtain recordings of the agents from within area 77. If you wish to obtain these recordings leave a small sum of diamonds in the barrel included with this message before sunrise tomorrow and I will handle the rest. This message will now self-destruct.”

“What?!” Grian stammered, jumping back from the stereo.

“Just kidding, always wanted to say that.” And with that last line the disk ended, the stereo falling silent.

“He totally got you my dude.” Rendog laughed at the slightly embarrassed Grian who just laughed and shrugged.

“It was a good one. The question is now, do we want that information?” Grian asked but Impulse was already moving, stepping into his RV and opening his enderchest, he returned with a fair sum of diamonds and placed them in the barrel.

“No debate, I’ll cover it.” Impulse explained as he closed the barrel.

“Alright, well that’s settled.” Rendog said with a shrug then glanced around. “Has… either of you seen Renbob lately?”

“Actually… no.” Grian admitted.

“Not sense he left to sell soup in Falsewel.” Impulse frowned, a bit worried.

“Well, at least he hasn’t noticed the reactor missing, hopefully. I don’t think he’d try waltzing into Area 77 alone.” Rendog said thoughtfully then shook his head and sighed.

“I’m sure he’s alright.” Grian offered, not actually sure of the fact so much as just trying to make Rendog feel better.

“And if he’s in Area 77 we’ll find him.” Impulse said firmly and Rendog nodded, relaxing a little.

“Either through real wit or dumb luck, he always survives.” Ren noted, leaning against his RV. 

“Still, I’ll go have a look around town tomorrow to see if he’s just gotten sidetracked somewhere.”

“Sounds like a plan, Impulse and I can review whatever Cub brings us as long as he upholds his end of the bargain.” Grian offered with a yawn and with a murmur of agreement the hermit hippies parted ways for the night, retiring to their RV’s.

Impulse found himself anxious again, making it very difficult to sleep. He ended up climbing up on top of his RV, laying on the roof and staring up at the stars. His mind spun around recent events and it was a struggle not to drown under the pain of being so forcefully separated from the person he loved most, left with no real clues as to what was happening to him. The sky had never seemed so empty and Impulse was left feeling quite alone, the cool surface of the roof he was laying on just reminding him how uncertain things had become so quickly.

Not far away, he heard the soft sound of a barrel being opened and as quietly as he could, he rolled over to peer into the darkness. He saw a figure there, the gleam of diamonds catching the low light before being tucked away again. They were replaced by something else in the barrel and the dark figure slipped off into the shadows, well as much as Cub could blend into the shadows with his ghostly wings. If his voice hadn’t been enough to confirm his identity those unmistakable wings would have been a telling sign, the bone structure looking a bit like a withered tree while soft, almost luminous feathers fell in a cascade from that point. They weren’t quite white but weren’t quite blue, an ethereal appearance to be sure and they caught the moonlight as Cub slipped away from the shadowed shelter of the ring of RV’s.

Impulse was only able to sit still for as long as it took Cub to slip away and then the anxious hermit was on the ground, moving to check the new contents of the drop. There were more maps and three disks and as badly as he wanted to listen to them now, he wasn’t sure his hippie brothers would appreciate being woken up so with a soft sigh, he carried the contents back to his RV. Again he tried to sleep but it was no easy task, he eventually just gave up, sitting on the ground, studying the maps in torchlight until the sun rose.

The knock that came to his door couldn’t come soon enough and the speed at which he answered it with almost buffeted Grian to the floor.

“The diamonds are gone but the-” Grian started to explain but Impulse just held the disks up, stopping the builder hippie mid sentence. Without another word between them Grian got out of the way and Impulse headed for the stereo, only vaguely taking note of Rendog leaving the camp. He wasted no time setting the first disk in to play. There was a bit of crackling and clicking, mostly interference and feedback of the recording and communication equipment it sounded like but finally Doc’s voice poured forth.

“Preparations for S4’s elevator has finished, we can begin operations.”

“Roger that, I’ll get down there as soon as Jellie and AirportCat are finished with their breakfast sir.” Scar’s voice replied. There was a bit more but most of it did not seem relevant and Impulse scowled at the stereo with annoyance until the disk ended and he could switch to the next. This one came in a bit clearer and it was the aggressive Captain’s voice that spilled through first.

“Sir, subject 41T attempted escape again. The subject is subdued but holding is clearly insufficient.”

“Take him to the empty cell in S4.” Doc replied darkly.

_Him? Subject?_ Impulse felt his body going tense at the revelation, that had to be Tango, he had no doubt but to _not even use his name_ it was just insulting on top of everything else. What exactly was Tango subjected to by these nutty, so-called hermits? Impulse wasn’t sure whether he should be more worried or less with the knowledge that Tango had tried to escape… apparently more than once. On the one side that confirmed that Tango was there against his will, but on the flip side it meant Tango was in good enough shape to try and break himself out.

It wasn’t until Impulse felt a hand on his arm and he glanced up to meet Grian’s gaze that he was pulled from his thoughts, realizing the disk had ended.

“Sorry.” He muttered and moved to switch to the third and final disk. Crackling filled the air again, the feedback on this recording the worst so far.

“The device has been secured into S4, sir.” It sounded like Scar but it was hard to say for sure.

“Step away from it Scar, I can barely hear you.” Doc’s reply was calm, almost amused. Some of the feedback cleared and Scar spoke again.

“The device has been secured sir, you may move forward with your studies of it in S4.”

“Good, good. Is shielding adequate? We do not want Subject 41T growing an extra arm or something.” Doc went on and the amount of warning ringing through Impulse’s head was near dizzying, it wasn’t until Grian shook him lightly that he was drawn out of worse thoughts than before.

“It’s okay, I’m fairly certain they were talking about my time machine. It’s perfectly safe and won’t hurt Tango being close to it.” Grian assured him coolly, firmly and Impulse nodded, trying to match Grian’s level of calm but it was no small feat at this point. Still, he found himself glancing up to the countdown, not that he could see the number clearly from here.

“Just have to bide our time, right?”

“Exactly. There’s plenty of preparation for us to do in the meantime.” Grian reminded him and the idea of busying himself with the peaceful work seemed more appealing at the moment than he could have previously realized.

“We need to put our heads together and come up with a plan for today.” Rendog said as he rejoined them. Impulse frowned when he noticed Rendog was alone.

“You didn’t find Renbob?”

“No, False hasn’t seen him either. Knowing our luck he’s probably befriended an Illigar raiding party or something.” Rendog sighed and shook his head.

“He’ll be back when he’s sorted out whatever he’s gotten into.” Grian offered before launching into what they’d learned from the disks from Cub.

“That helps, at least now we know that Tango is there and is locked up near your time machine. That means we just have to find S4, wherever that is.” Rendog said thoughtfully.

“With the way our tunnels branch underneath I think we should be able to suss that out rather quickly.” Grian pointed out, not really concerned.

“Right, that brings us to what I found, I don’t know if False has some kind of deal worked out with the Area 77 guys or what but apparently she’s giving tours. Now, I don’t think she’ll let us go in knowing our record thus far so Grian, we need disguises. Also, the price is a bit steep.”

“Well I’m broke so you’ll have to cover for me.” Grian said in an entirely deadpan tone.

“I was afraid you’d say that… fine, just get those disguises together.”

“I’m on it.” Grian said with a big grin and scarpered off to his RV. While he did that Ren turned back to Impulse.

“I think you should stay behind. It would be bad if all three of us get caught, so you should probably just hang back.” Rendog said with no room for argument in his tone.

“Is it because of that or are you worried I’ll hurt someone?” Impulse asked, knowing he’d fully earned that lack in faith.

“That really doesn’t help, no. Still, I think it would be better for one of us to stay behind anyway and really, after that little kerfuffle maybe you shouldn’t hang around camp either. I can’t imagine Captain Angry Eyebrows is going to let things slide if he heard about what happened.”

“I can head back to the main island and see about restocking some of my redstone supplies.” Impulse said with a sigh. He was itching to get into Area 77 but he wouldn’t be able to keep it to just information gathering, he’d be unable to stop himself from looking for S4 so as much as he didn’t want to, he agreed with Ren’s reasoning. It would do no one any good if he got caught.

“Perfect, just keep your head low.” Ren nodded, turning to face Grian as the master of costumes reemerged with new threads for the two to wear. With a soft sigh Impulse went to pile his shulkers back into his enderchest, making sure he’d have what he needed when he reached the main island. That finished he headed off, not missing out on Grian and Rendog in ridiculous outfits trying to use an even more ridiculous accent. He didn’t give it much more thought, focusing on his task at hand. He wanted to go with them, to go into Area 77, it was a difficult thing to fight against but he resisted the pull and made his way back to New Hermitvill.

The village was quiet as he followed it’s paths, winding through town. He very nearly had a heart attack when he saw Doc climb out of the composter that was randomly situated in the middle of the path. Doc was facing the other way though so Impulse quickly bolted down another street before continuing to make his way to the portal, a little more cautious now though. Luckily the portal didn’t seem to be Doc’s destination so Impulse headed up the ladder in the middle of the tower and stepped through the portal without incident. The sharp change between chilly spruce woods to the stagnant heat of the nether was like a slap in the face, leaving Impulse feeling rather keenly focused on… nothing.

Slowly walking away from the portal he ran his fingers through his hair, watching the floor under his feet more than where he was going, his hands brush against the headband laced in flowers and he was reminded of the friends who had his back despite this strange twist in events. He groaned to himself in low frustration as he rubbed his face and finally let his hands drop and looked up to the path ahead. The nether was as empty and unforgiving as ever but at least the tunnel that False and Xisuma had put together looked nice in spite of that fact. It really didn’t do much to banish the heat though, leaving him to pace himself on the long walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now you know what the tag "Impulse and tango are rabidly protective of each other" Means. ehehe, oopse.
> 
> Also I tried to take advice to heart and fix some things, I probably didn't get it all but I tried!


	3. Clever Planning

Dust. There was a thin layer of dust on everything in Tango’s base and it made Impulse feel like the last handful of days had been a score instead of just a few. It made the emptiness in his heart sting all the more, looking at how empty and deserted that little skin of dirt made everything feel. He hadn’t even realized he’d stepped into Tango’s base instead of his own until after leaving the portal behind. It was disconcerting, seeing the cobwebs from a family of spiders that had moved in, there were a few torches missing as well, a few more mobs than there should be and with an annoyed huff he drew his sword and moved to clear them out. His purpose for coming to the main island was thrown to the wind as he focused on slaying zombies and creepers, replacing sources of light and chasing spiders back to their caves where they belonged. As soon as that was done he turned his attention to cleaning the dust away, unable to bear the sight of it and the feelings it instilled, the consequence of Tango’s unplanned departure. It wasn’t until he was done with that, when he had no more purpose to be there that Impulse finally turned back to the portal to return to his own base. Food dispensers got a restocking and all his dogs got a bit of attention, it wasn’t fair to them to leave them here bored and probably worried but he wasn’t going to risk getting them anywhere near Doc and his military base. He could just imagine them getting launched into space for wandering into that accursed place. Dogs fed and cared for, Impulse started setting out shulkers, filling them with the needed supplies, checking farms and stock while he was there, unclogging one of his filtering systems before gathering everything up and heading back to the commune.

His thoughts drifted again as he stepped through the portal the image of Tango’s deserted base intermingling with the gloomy underground of Area 77 from his nightmare left him feeling uneasy, drawing back his last memories of Bdubs, of the man consumed by the jungle itself. He was half certain that the disappearances of him and others was the main reason Xisuma had decided they all needed to pack up and leave those lands far, far behind. He’d lost friends to the reaper already, but the idea of losing Tango was the worst pain of all, a sharp fear tearing through his heart at the thought and as he stared into his reflection on the surface of the Nether’s glass floor, another thought struck him.

_ Doc was the only survivor of that jungle. _

He couldn’t escape the chill that latched into his blood at that thought that something might  _ actually be wrong _ with Doc. That he might not be alright, that his mind might have suffered sufficient scars enough to lash out or even just… be distanced from the other hermits enough not to see them as people anymore. Could that… really be the case? Were the hermits in larger danger than they realized? Did Scar realize what he was getting into when he joined up with Doc for this madness? His mind started in on that unforgiving spiral and the panic that Tango might actually be in real danger or even hurt weighing in on him like thousands of falling gravel blocks.

“Impulse?” A calm but inquisitive voice shattered the prison of thoughts like a rock through glass, drawing attention he saw none other than Joe.

“Um… yeah?” He said, struggling to shove his spiraling thoughts aside.

“I do not know what’s troubling you right now my friend but I’m sure it will be fine, like the river flowing ever on to the sea, there is always a path and where there is no clear path there is means enough to make one. It may wander and meander but it shall always reach its goal eventually. Your plight is the same, you shall find your way.” Joe said, gracefully moving to hold his hands out, his large, eagle-like wings mimicking the move, angling so the tips of his wings brushed inwards. Impulse didn’t miss the subtle but clear invitation for a hug, nor did he pass up on it. Impulse closed the distance of just a couple steps and all but dropped against Joe who wrapped his arms around the troubled hermit in a hug not unlike that of a parent or worried sibling.

“Thanks Joe… I needed to hear that.” Impulse admitted before letting go, Joe patting his back as he let Impulse go.

“Anytime my dear friend, you know that like an open, blank book I am always here if you need to talk. Well, maybe not  _ here _ specifically but around, I am not that hard to find unless I have some reason not to be found but I don’t so you can usually find me at the ministry of truth.” Joe assured him in the most rambly way possible.

“I appreciate it, right now I just need to go ahead and get some stuff done.” Impulse sighed, looking up and turning to get into position to fly up to the second level.

“Are you sure you should be flying? Maybe not my place to intervene but your wing  _ is _ bandaged.” Joe pointed out with concern. Impulse paused, glancing at his wing.

“Well it didn’t hurt gliding down here from there earlier.” Impulse noted, folding his wing and lifting it enough to reach the bandage and checking it. It was loose so he went ahead and pulled it off. The paste had mostly sank into his wound but what was left crumbled away as the bandage was removed. Impulse dusted what was left away, inspecting what was now, as Renbob had predicted, a scar. The new scales were still soft and they were a much paler gray, the edge of one of his yellow darts looked like it turned to smoke, the now lighter yellow pulling up from the tip of the triangle in a little wisp.

“Oh that doesn’t look too bad actually.” Joe noted, relieved his friend wasn’t hurt worse.

“Yeah, I think I’m fine to fly.” Impulse nodded, relieved to have his freedom back. He unfolded his wings and again turned to face the opening in the ceiling.

“I will wait a moment in case you need a hand, not that you are likely to.” Joe noted and it was no empty offer as Joe had likely the strongest set of wings of all the hermits, he could carry others easily if need be. With a nod Impulse raised his wings, bent his knees then sprang upwards and snapped his wings down hard, propelling himself upwards, two beats more and he was landing on the second level. He turned back to wave at Joe but saw him mimicking the same launch off of the floor. One powerful, thunderous wingbeat took Joe straight from the floor to the second level with power to spare as he climbed higher than Impulse had, the glass moon in the ceiling was almost too close. Joe drifted down to land next to Impulse, grinning like the cat who caught the canary.

“Showoff.” Impulse snorted a laugh, amused.

“Speaking of, where is Tango? I haven’t seen him in a while.” The speed at which the smile fell from Impulse’s face at the question was only rivaled by the trapdoor under his mood.

“He’s a prisoner of Area 77, I don’t know why Doc and Scar have him locked up but they do.”

“Oh… well now your personal raincloud makes a bit more sense. Do you want me to have a chat with the two? I’m sure they have some good reason for their actions and usually just a calm approach is the best one.” Joe offered.

“No… I don’t think that would be wise.” Impulse cautioned but from the look in Joe’s eyes he could tell the other hermit wouldn’t be heeding that warning. With a sigh he just shook his head and turned for the tunnel he needed. “Just be careful, Joe.”

\--

Impulse’s storm of wandering thoughts had claimed him again by the time he reached the commune, redoubled with the worry that he’d gotten Joe roped into this mess, his thoughts were broken as he rounded Rendog’s RV and the smell of blood caught his attention. Glancing up he instantly saw the source, it was Grian. It was the builder’s turn to be sat on one of the shulkers and now Rendog was the one trying to patch a hippie brother up. Grian’s leg was ripped open from above the ankle to just under his knee, the skin torn to ribbons and bleeding profusely. Rendog was struggling to get the bleeding to stop and Grian looked pale, his face was covered in bloody scuffs, his arms were already bandaged but blood was seeping through. His wings were missing an alarming number of feathers and some of the bald spots were crusted in dried blood as well.

“What happened?!” Impulse asked, hurrying over to try and help with Grian’s leg, on closer inspection he could see marks from small teeth.

“Doc has a set of disturbingly well trained foxes. We got in and while I took the reactor and Grian kept False distracted he came after us.” Rendog explained.

“I… didn’t see him coming… I tried to get away and tripped.” Grian added, he sounded a bit out of it and that worried Impulse.

“It’s okay, we’re gonna get you patched up, you’re going to be okay.” Impulse said, trying to offer Grian some comfort but with as badly as he was bleeding he really wasn’t sure about that.

“We need to elevate that leg, help me lay him down.” Rendog ordered and Impulse followed without a word, flinching a little when the other hermit whimpered in pain as they adjusted his position. With Grian laying in the grass and his leg up on the shulker the blood slowed a little but it wouldn’t be enough. Impulse took over applying pressure so Rendog could dig through shulkers until he found some potions. He brought them over, gently cradling Grian’s shoulders so the wounded builder could drink the potion without drowning. That done Rendog went on to trying to recreate the paste that Renbob had used on Impulse’s wing but it didn’t look exactly the same, he hoped it would work nonetheless. They worked together in silence, getting the wound cleaned and dressed but even once wrapped blood soaked through the bandages. With Grian patched up as best as possible they got him settled in his bed, a couple more healing potions on hand. That taken care of Impulse walked with Ren in silence down to the river to wash the blood away. He couldn’t help taking note of the cloudy red substance drifting downstream, of Grian’s blood coming free from his hands in the water. It was disturbing, more disturbing to think how easily this had almost ended up being Scar’s blood in this river, how close Impulse had come to being a murderer. Now though, would Doc be the one with such lingering guilt? Did he care? Impulse honestly wasn’t sure anymore.

“Come on, we have extra work on our hands now, Grian is in no condition to keep digging.” Rendog said, standing and turning back to camp. Impulse caught a flicker of guilt in his voice, did he blame himself? So many questions just kept piling up with no answers in sight. With a sigh, tired and wishing he could have reason to laugh again, Impulse followed after his friend, worried for his other friends, for Grian, for Joe… but still for Tango as well, the list of people he was afraid for was just growing. It was somewhat relieving to take his frustrations out on dirt and stone, stabbing at the earth with pick and shovel. All Ren had to do was point and Impulse was off, digging almost mindlessly as he plowed forward until he was too drained to even move, collapsing mid-swing.

-+-+-+-+-+-+

He didn’t remember getting to his RV, let alone his bed and yet that is where Impulse woke up. His body was sore and his mind felt clouded, his thoughts dragging slowly as he tried to piece together where he was. Vaguely he heard voices, they were near but he couldn’t sort them out in his head so he just laid there, unable to fall asleep but too exhausted to move and as he remembered where he was and what was going on, he found less reason to want to get up. Somewhere in his mind he remembered Grian had gotten injured and that raised the thought that perhaps the voices were the other hermits coming to either check on him or say goodbye. It was a depressing thought on top of what felt like a hopeless situation and he wasn’t sure how things had gotten this far, how things had reached this level of insanity.

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there before he heard a knock at the door and with a long drawn out sigh he pulled himself up, moving to answer with unsteady legs that didn’t want to carry him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was Renbob, glad he was okay. He opened the door but whatever greeting he was about to give got caught in his throat when he looked past Renbob to the rest of camp. There were illagers  _ everywhere _ . They were all wearing hippie style clothes though, not their usual, imposing attire, there wasn’t a crossbow or axe in sight either, they were hanging around, relaxed and chatting.

“Come on out man, you’re missing the party.” Renbob said in his easy-going tone.

“Um, yeah…” Impulse blinked, hesitantly stepping out and glancing around. There was a handful of illagers hanging out in the immediate camp but he saw others milling about as well, past the circle of RV’s but he couldn’t begin to guess what they were up to. The couple closest by waved at him when he stepped onto the grass and he waved back before casting Renbob an utterly confused and bewildered look.

“The power of cookies and music man, everyone here is all about peace and love.” Renbob said, taking a hint from Impulse’s confusion but that really didn’t offer the amount of answer Impulse had hoped for, so he just went with it.

“Alright, well, this is cool. Where is Rendog and how’s Grian doing?”

“Grian’s doing alright, packed him with a few more potions and a couple smoothies and man he’s doing better, couldn’t even stay still, man. He’s over at his flower farm with a few of our new friends. They know not to let him walk much. Rendog is down in the tunnels you guys were working so hard on last night.” Renbob explained and Impulse nodded again, taking a steadying breath as he realized things weren’t nearly as bad as he’d thought they were just a few minutes ago. Before he could comment on things further Renbob handed him a bowl of soup and Impulse was reminded yet again of how important it was to eat. He’d downed several bowls ravenously before he waved the next off, setting his empty bowl aside he heard the sound of hooves to his other side and turned to look at what he expected was just a wild horse that might have wandered into camp.

That… wasn’t what it was.

What he was met with wasn’t the fuzzy face of a happy pony but rather the cold, empty stare of a skeleton horse. Impulse tensed, half expecting to get shot before realizing the horse’s bones were wrapped with vines and flowers and on the horses back was none other than Grian. His wounds were wrapped in fresh bandages and there wasn’t a spot of blood on them. His color had returned and he looked back to his happy self.

“Thanks for taking up my share of the digging, well more than my share I should say. You dug like a madman Impulse! It was impressive but I got kinda worried when I heard you passed out.”

“I just needed something to focus on for a while, I guess. Things got a little more serious than I could handle when you got hurt.” He admitted.

“It’s not as bad as it seemed, I’ll be alright.” Grian assured him but Impulse figured Grian’s good health had more to do with the return of Renbob and his miracle remedies than the wounds not being so bad. He’d seen them, helped dress them, he knew just how bad Grian was torn up.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Impulse admitted, as he honestly was.

“Same to you. Now, you ready to dive back in? I need a bit of redstone help, I’d have asked for more guidance than work but our newest brethren throw a fit if I try to walk around too much.”

“Yeah, lead the way.” Impulse chuckled, getting to his feet. He did feel worlds better now, knowing Grian was alright as well as having burned off a lot of frustration during the dig. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been down there but when he glanced up at the countdown on their way past it he noticed the number was all the way down to one. It was getting down to the wire now and he had to wonder what it was Grian had planned. Impulse followed him over to the silo with a giant RV inside, tilted on its rear like a missile.

“I need you to get underneath of this and install a flying machine. We are going to launch this RV into space.” Grian explained. Stunned, Impulse glanced between the massive build of a vehicle and back to Grian again, at a loss for words but as he did this a few times it suddenly made sense and he laughed.

“You’ve got it. I’ll have it ready in a few hours.”

“Perfect! You’re the man Impulse.” Grian smiled and directed his horse off to go help with something else since there was no getting down into the silo in his condition. Impulse was fine with being left to his own devices, spreading his wings and gliding down to take stock of what exactly he needed to do before setting to work. As he flew in and out of the silo for supplies and measurements he noticed that he wasn’t the only one hard at work. The walled in area, the standing logs he’d noticed when he first joined was now filled with tents and giant mushrooms, those tents seemed to be where most of the illagers were staying. What they were working on however was across from that, filling up the last of the space the commune had left. They were building a huge music festival stage. Renbob seemed to be the one in charge and it was going up very quickly. Impulse didn’t interrupt their work, too busy with his own. It was a tricky task considering he couldn’t test it, once this was launched it was launched, there would be no stopping it if it worked but there was no guarantee that something this big wouldn’t break. He was actually pretty worried that’s exactly what was going to happen. He just had to hope it would work properly wiring up a launch mechanism and adding some fireworks just for show, they were rescuing Tango after all, it had to be done in style and Impulse wasn’t missing the chance to embellish Grian’s plan.

Once finished Impulse took a flight to get a look around the commune, a lot had been added since he arrived and it was quite something to behold, especially with all the peace loving illagers, it was wild. As he swooped over the border of trees between Area 77 and their commune he noticed the countdown had reached zero. With snap of his wings he changed directions and headed back to the circle of RV’s. There he found Rendog and Grian discussing plans, he landed right beside them, narrowly missing the campfire.

“I’m done, counter is at zero, what’s next?” Impulse asked.

“We’re going to do a countdown from nine, once that reaches zero we launch. Nine seconds, sound good?” Grian asked and impulse nodded.

“Let’s get into position then.” Rendog said as he stood.

“Oh, there’s one last thing, Impulse. I forgot to mention it earlier.” Grian said as one of the illagers helped him back up onto the back of his horse.

“What’s that?” Impulse asked, slightly amused but also a little uncertain.

“I know I said we were launching the RV into space but… we actually need it to stop, the bottom needs to be almost level with the top of the countdown clock.”

“That’s no big deal, I’ll go prepare that while you two get ready.” Impulse assured him and took back to the air, with a bit of scaffolding and some dirt it didn’t take long to get into a position high above the RV and then place down a single block of obsidian. That done he removed the scaffold and flew to the clock, the control platform was only a single block deep so it was a little tricky to land on but he managed it. Turning he could see Rendog had built a temporary staircase and platform upto and on one of the trees so Grian could just ride his horse up there.

“Ready!” Grian called out and Impulse turned to reset the clock, having it tick down from nine. As it did he looked out over Area 77, out there on the airstrip he saw Doc, a pair of foxes and Scar. Captain Angry Eyebrows wasn’t there but Impulse had no doubt that guy was up to something somewhere. As the countdown drew near its end Impulse drew out a bow, aiming at the pressure pad that would trigger the launch. The clock hit zero again, Grian called out and Impulse fired. The arrow struck true and fireworks filled the sky, popping and crackling as the RV slowly rose into the air. Impulse watched it around the frame of the countdown for a moment before looking back to the air strip, there he saw Scar pointing and jumping, the foxes were  _ scrambling _ for one of the hangers and Doc had taken a few steps back. Spreading his wings and hopping from the narrow platform Impulse flew over to the tree.

“Grian, the foxes are afraid of fireworks.” Impulse informed, noting that Grian was watching the launch but not the military base.

“Good, then they’ll be terrified of TNT… but I might arm myself with one of the discarded crossbows.” He said thoughtfully.

“Probably a good idea.” Impulse agreed as he looked back to the steadily rising RV in time to see it reach the single little obsidian block and come to a halt.

“Perfect! Well done, Impulse.” Grian congratulated with a huge grin in his voice, Impulse didn’t even have to turn to see it, he did however look to see how the Area 77 boys were handling the situation. They were watching, still as stone and Impulse couldn’t tell if they were intimidated or confused. Finally he looked back to Grian.

“Well, it’s up in the air, now what?”

“You’ll see, but I need you to fly back over and set it to start counting down four days.”

“Four more days?” Impulse questioned, surprised and a bit worried.

“It would be less but I need to recover.” Grian pointed out apologetically then asked. “You still in?”

“Yeah, I’m in.” Impulse nodded. He was worried about Tango but he recognized the mind game that Grian was playing with the self appointed military crew.

“Great, thanks Impulse.” Grian smiled before looking over to Rendog who’d been fairly quiet. He just sort of stared at him long enough that the silence that fell over the three was a little uncomfortable.

“What?” Ren asked finally.

“Are you aware that your beard makes it look like you’re perpetually smiling?” Grian asked, sounding dead serious.

“ _ What? _ ” Ren asked again, looking a bit like his brain had just sort of… stopped. Now that Grian had pointed it out however… 

“No I see it too.” Impulse admitted.

Ren turned that confused look on Impulse and Grian burst into laughter before riding his horse away. Impulse chuckled and shook his head before taking to the air, flying over the commune again. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why but he did feel better, the RV in the air was absolutely ridiculous yet so perfect at the same time, he was sure Doc and Scar would be completely confused and likely a bit worried.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The next couple of days became an absolute chaos of activity at the camp, with so many illagers around it was no longer quiet, there was often music playing, conversations amongst themselves, constant building, even if it was things they took right back and it was obvious pretty quickly to Impulse they were basically making sure they looked busy, looked like they had a purpose as they were acting as noise, both visual and otherwise, making it impossible to tell what was really going on inside the commune. It was brilliant, really, giving the hippies the edge of surprise.

Impulse helped Grian with his plans for the RV, the one in the air, walking him through some redstone questions and problems but not actually doing anything directly, he was a bit confused as to exactly what Grian had planned but he was behind it, he could only imagine it was going to be chaotic and hilarious. Otherwise Impulse mostly just helped out wherever he could, even if it was adding to the pointless activity that acted as their cloak of confusion.

That was, until the signal was called from those nearest the edge of the camp and Impulse’s attention was zeroed in on the hermit who had chosen to come visit the Hippies, the member of Area 77 that dared set foot on their quinte little corner. Doc walked into the camp, passing right by the numerous illagers with little more than a glance and a nod to any that met his gaze. That was until he finally met Impulse’s gaze and stopped in his tracks, just out of sword sweeping range.

“What are you doing here?” Impulse demanded, struggling to sound calm.

“I came to check on Grian,”

“He’s hurt because of  _ you _ and you have the audacity to show up  _ days _ later? Are you serious?” Impulse snapped at him, cutting him off.

“He’s the one who was trespassing. He was warned and broke the law anyway. It is his own fault. Still, I don’t want to hurt anyone, man, you should know that.” Doc said in a casual tone, trying to lighten the air.

“I’m not really sure what I know about you anymore Doc, I wouldn’t have thought you a kidnapper or a thief but recently that’s kinda a lot of what you’ve done.” Impulse pointed out sharply, eyeing Doc suspiciously.

“You just don’t understand. Scar and I are doing this to protect everyone. There is some very strange, very dangerous business going on and it has to be handled carefully and others cannot interfere or everything will get a lot worse.” Doc insisted.

“I really don’t know if I can believe you, especially after what your little pets did to Grian. He could have  _ died _ Doc. Honestly you’re lucky he survived.” Impulse said firmly.

“I don’t want anyone dead but I won’t hesitate to use that force if it becomes necessary. Now, I’m here for a peaceful visit, I don’t want any trouble, I just want to make sure Grian is okay.”

“Fine, but I swear to you Doc.” Impulse said, stepping close enough to be right in Doc’s personal space, staring him down through those sunglasses obscuring his eyes. “If you dare lay a finger on him, if you try to finish him off or if I find out you have or if you do hurt Tango, I’ll make your dreams of becoming bonemeal a reality. Are we  **clear?** ”

“Crystal.” Doc said calmly, seeming unphased.

Grumbling Impulse stepped aside to let Doc through and once he was a few steps away he called out for Grian that he had a guest. Grian appeared through the crowd that had gathered, he was mostly holding onto his horse for balance now, walking beside the undead beast that had accumulated a great number of flowers, many were carefully tucked into its chest cavity, leaving the creature to look almost as if it was sprouting from the inside out. Impulse leaned against the log fence and watched, he couldn’t hear their conversation but he was close enough to have a good shot on Doc if the tried anything. He waited patiently watching like a wolf stalking its prey.

Grian seemed surprised but quickly relaxed, even laughing after a minute. They spoke briefly but that seemed to be enough to ease Doc’s conscience. Doc left after that, not lingering or snooping around, he left the camp without another word to Impulse who followed him out of camp to make sure he did indeed leave.

“It’s okay Impulse, you can breathe.” Grian said from behind him and Impulse turned to face his hippie brother, just relieved that Doc had been telling the truth and it had not been some poly to permanently remove Grian.

“I just don’t trust his motivations right now.”

“I know… but that’s not important at the moment, he thinks everything is fine and that we aren’t just blocks away from breaking in.” Grian pointed out.

Impulse heaved a sigh, nodding, trying to relax again and it was a little easier considering conflict had been minimal. He followed Grian back into camp, watching the way his friend put most of his weight against his undead pet and limped but otherwise was getting around just fine. Impulse dove back into busying himself with the many tasks, big and small, that they had left. He spent a lot of time making fireworks, loading the dispensers on the stage as well as the chests near their decided point of invasion. He was determined to see them ready if not over prepared for when the countdown ran out.

Grian was practically giddy as the time drew near and Impulse had to wonder just  _ what _ he had up his sleeve since he wasn’t talking about it. He had taken to the air a few times periodically to the RV in the air but he gave no clues what he was up to. Impulse was curious but he didn’t push for answers, he knew he just had to wait and the trusted Grian for it to be worth the wait. All Grian did admit to was what they were doing would act as a cover for their actual breakin to S4 and knowing that made it a lot easier to stick to the plan when the time did come.

The countdown hit zero again and the plan went into motion, another launch triggering and a second RV flying out of the first, powered by a flying machine and Grian cheering at his success as he glided back down. The illagers were split into two groups, Flower power and Music junkies. Flower power was charging into Area 77 with Grian, Impulse and Rendog while the rest stayed behind to party with Renbob and act as part one of the distraction. Impulse wasn’t sure this would work but he had hope, watching the RV pass overhead while he landed atop the trees, below him the Flower power crew hid, armed with armloads of flowers and bonemeal. A few had crossbows with rockets, Impulse was a little nervous to see them armed again but they seemed focused on their task, ready for the signal.

Music started spilling from the stage, that was the signal and Impulse was impressed that Renbob had managed to draw Doc and Scar away from Area 77 but he didn’t have time to dwell on it, or even risk the two seeing him and the others slip into the military base. His wings spread and he leapt from the tree, swooping over the fence with Rendog and Grian while the illagers spilled through the useless fence. Those that were armed fanned out wide and scouted ahead, ready to deal with either foxes or a certain angry Captain should he still be around. Moving in the shadow of the slow but steady flying RV they started planting and summoning flowers, coating every dirt and grass block with colorful foliage.

As they reached the airstrip Jellie watched them from her post, draped over the block lazily and absently batting at Grian’s wings as he passed her, planting flowers all around her and she didn’t seem to care. As they neared the hangers the RV crashed into the cliff above. Impulse took a peek into the hanger as he passed it and he saw the two foxes sleeping in their kennels and he breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t have to deal with the little trained attack animals. He also realized this was the hanger that Cub had listed as ‘unspeakable things’ so he took the opportunity to steal a glance further in and saw…

Villagers and a zombie in holding cells, the frightened villagers would summon an iron golem that would then fall out of sight. That… must be it, Impulse figured and moved on, catching up to the others to help plant the last of the flowers at the top of the cliffs.

“We did it guys! This is going to take them hours to clean up.” Grian said with a big grin, leaning on the now motionless and busted up RV to take some of the weight off of his leg.

“Man… this is crazy.” Impulse said, looking back out across the field, the peaceful army they’d brought with them carefully picking their way back to the commune.

“Now we just have to sneak back before the music festival ends.” Rendog noted, raising his wings. Grian nodded, sloppily jumping off the cliff, catching the air and taking off, even with some of his feathers still not fully grown back he could fly better than a lot of the other hermits. Chuckling Impulse followed after, Rendog gliding alongside him, it had become comfortable flying with these two and Impulse had to admit to himself he’d miss hanging out with them so much once this was over. They’d formed a bond as hippie brothers and Impulse couldn’t help seeing the good in the situation being the time he got to spend with them.

They reached the camp without issue, sneaking in with the cover of the circle of RV’s that blocked the view of the stage. With all the illagers accounted for, the crossbows tossed back into a chest with distaste by those who’d volunteered to scout for foxes and indignant eyebrowed captains the entire group gravitated towards the music. Impulse joined in as well, heading for the party now that the first stage was complete, they had to bide their time now, wait for the ‘agents’ to discover the field of flowers that was their base and let down their guard.

As easy as it was to just join in and start dancing, with all the illagers tearing up the dance floor in big groups, it still made Impulse miss Tango again terribly, his heart ached at the thought of him still locked up while this party was going on. He knew his grandiose boyfriend would set this grass dance floor ablaze with his moves, before Impulse even realized he was just off to the side, swaying to the music and looking like a sad, lost puppy. That was until Grian caught his arm and pulled him into the center of the dance with a big grin, it didn’t take much to realize that Grian wanted to join the party but needed a bit of balance and a way to lift some of the strain off of his injured leg. Impulse didn’t mind, humoring his friend and dancing with him. Renbob was up on stage, singing with some of the songs but generally just keeping the energy ramped up. Not far off Impulse could see Scar and Doc dancing along, seeming to have a lot of fun and in that moment things felt a lot more normal with them, like nothing was amiss and all was right among the hermits.

It was well after sundown before the party finally started winding down, hipillagers heading to their tents to crash hard, some exhausted from the mass amounts of work while others were still amped and kept the party going in little groups with their own stereos.

“That was a lot of fun, maybe you hippies aren’t so bad after all.” Doc said once the main stage music died down.

“Told you we were peaceful.” Grian said with a laugh, hobbling over to pat his arm but ended up being caught by Doc when he almost fell. Impulse didn’t miss the look of concern laced with guilt that knitted across Doc’s features.

“Maybe you should sit down man, you’re still injured.” Doc’s tone was soft and Grian nodded, letting Doc guide him to then help him up onto the stage where he could sit.

Glancing away from those two Impulse spotted Scar and realized the other builder was watching him closely, tensely. He took a step towards him and Scar took a step back. That stung, more than he would have expected. With a small sigh Impulse approached him as non-threatening as he could manage but Scar still backed into the fence.

“Scar… can we talk?” Impulse asked as gently as he possibly could.

“Uh, yeah.” Scar nodded, hesitant but not actively looking for an escape anymore.

“I want to apologize for the other day, I was stressed out but was way out of line, I should never have attacked you like that and I honestly regret it. I’m sorry, Scar.” Impulse was being honest and Scar relaxed a little, watching Impulse’s eyes as he spoke, reading him easily.

“It’s okay, Impulse. I forgive you.” Scar said but he still looked a little nervous.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me, I’m not going to do anything that stupid again.” Impulse assured him, holding his arms out in an offered hug but clearly not going to think badly if Scar turned it down, which was what he expected but Scar surprised him, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Of course I’m not afraid of you… well maybe I was a little bit but, I forgive you, long as we’re still friends I’m happy.” Scar said, releasing Impulse after squeezing him a little tighter.

“I’m glad, just, don’t freak me out like that.” Impulse requested gently.

“Oh I’m never poking that bear again, you two are like pandas in heat. I think we both learned from our mistakes.” Scar laughed and Impulse’s face went red at the comparison before he started laughing, half embarrassed but also realizing Scar had a very good point.

“Should we get going, Scar? It’s late and the party  _ is  _ over.” Doc asked as he came over, he sounded just a hint sleepy.

“Yeah, let’s get going. Jellie’ll get cranky if I’m not there to warm her bed.” Scar laughed

“Good night my dudes, thanks for joining the party.” Rendog said, coming over and putting an arm against Impulse to lean on him. Impulse didn’t miss the look that briefly crossed Doc’s face, just a little sad, not quite hurt but not jealous either. It was enough for Impulse to recognize that Doc missed that sort of little thing that Ren usually did with him. 

“It was a good party, maybe we can make the next one.” Doc said, lifting up into the air effortlessly while Scar’s wings started fluttering and he too kicked off the ground. Once they were up and off, fading into the distance Ren spoke again.

“It’s dark enough I don’t think they’ll see the flowers until morning. We can get some rest.”

“I’m too restless to sleep though.” Grian lamented, drawing Ren and Impulse’s gazes his way. He looked rough, it had been a long day and he wasn’t fully recovered yet, Impulse couldn’t imagine he’d be able to stay awake long.

“Well, I might have an idea for that.” Impulse said with a grin, going over to the stage, offering his shoulders which Grian didn’t hesitate to drape an arm over. Impulse helped Grian to his feet, keeping most of his weight off of his still healing leg. Curious, Rendog fell into step with them. Impulse wandered away from the remaining chatter of the hipillagers who hadn’t settled in for the night, finding a quiet patch of grass under the stars and gently setting Grian down before flopping down onto the grass beside him. Grian followed suit, laying back and after a moment Rendog joined them, leaving all three to stare up at the sky.

“You know, for as much time I spend building… I don’t think I’ve really stopped to just watch the stars.” Grian admitted.

“It helps clear your head, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen asleep just watching the stars.” Impulse explained, already sounding considerably more relaxed.

“We’re phantom bait.” Rendog pointed out dryly.

“Not really, long as you are laying down they aren’t likely to notice you.” Impulse informed.

“Seriously? You can avoid them by just laying down?” Grian questioned.

“Yep, I’ve watched them circle over Tango’s base while I laid on the hilltop. They’ve never noticed me but they’d chase Tango down if he dared step foot outside.”

“That’s a bit… daring.” Grian said and then chuckled.

“You’ve got to be every now and then, you know that better than most.” Impulse shot back.

“This really does set everything into perspective.” Rendog noted.

“Your problems start to feel pretty small in the grand scheme of things, usually. I feel weirdly displaced this time.” Impulse admitted.

“Because your world has been stolen out from under your feet.” Grian offered, Impulse had to admit that made sense.

“You’re right… but we know what’s wrong in my life, what about you guys?” Impulse asked, still watching the glittering sky drift by.

“It’s less interesting with me, just assuming things would be safe in the middle of an empty field.” Grian sighed.

“I just miss Doc.” Ren said with a heavy sigh.

“Didn’t he invite you to help him with this crazy Area 77 stuff?” Grian asked, sounding concerned.

“No… not a word about it. I mean, it’s fine to hang out and build stuff with Scar, he’s incredibly talented but this started a while ago… Doc just sort of stopped coming around and brothers, I have no idea what that means.” Ren explained, at a loss.

“Could he just be distracted?” Grian asked, weighing reasoning.

“Have you spoken to him about this specifically?” Impulse added.

“I’m not sure and no. I can’t seem to find the words dudes, nothing seems like the right way of explaining it.”

Grian rolled over to prop himself up with his elbows and give Rendog an intent look. “You need to tell him how you feel, nothing can be cleared up otherwise.”

“Agreed.” Impulse weighed in.

“I… Yeah.” Ren sighed, it didn’t seem like he was up to doing that yet, or that his failed attempts were making him hesitant. Grian looked over to Impulse who sighed.

“Let’s get this reconnaissance mission over with and see how things stand afterwards.” Impulse suggested.

“That seems a reasonable course of action.” Rendog nodded and while Grian looked like he had something to add he yawned hard enough that tears rolled and he looked like he’d drift off any second. Impulse took that as a cue and rolled to his feet, making sure the battered hippie made it safely to his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DANGER FOXES, IT'S IN THE TAGS, YOU WERE WARNED. MWAHAHAHAH
> 
> Also Renbob is fine, to those who were concerned. He was just adding to Grian's plans! He's a helpful sweetheart isn't he? I mean really, how could I lay a finger on an innocent hippie like him?


	4. Freedom's Cost

Morning came much sooner than Impulse was really ready for after the long night but he really had no choice but to drag himself up, he knew their window of opportunity could be very slim. Stepping out of his RV he saw Ren and Grian already getting ready to go so he quickly joined right in, thus it wasn’t long before they were taking the secret entrance to the tunnels. The walk felt brutally long, giving Impulse way too much time to think over everything all over again, to question what was happening and what exactly should bother him most or if he could just brush it all away like nothing had happened before long. His heart was tight in his chest, hoping for the best but worried to no end of what they’d find. After what felt like an eternity they finally reached the end of the tunnel, it was a bit darker and Rendog fended off a creeper while a zombie staggered from the shadows. Impulse had no patience for mobs right about then, swooping forward with his blade swinging in a wide arc to be rid of the unwanted undead.

“Grian you have to learn to light things up.” Rendog grumbled as he slayed the creeper before it could explode.

“Sorry.” Grian apologized, focused on throwing down torches as he dashed ahead, hopping over uneven floor and generally just trying to get to the end of the tunnel. Somewhere nearby they heard an explosion and all three crouched low to the ground to listen, it came again.

“That wasn’t us, right?” Impulse whispered.

“I don’t think so.” Rendog said, creeping forward as another explosion went off, somewhere inside of the bunker from the sound of it.

“Now’s our chance!” Grian said, hurrying the rest of the way, where the stone wall came to an end and there was white concrete beyond. It was against that white block he placed TNT and Impulse had to scramble back for cover like a spider trying to escape the flow of water. Grian gave nearly no warning to setting the charge and running for cover himself, barely making it behind the little outcropping of stone from the wall beside Impulse before the blast happened. It nearly the same time as another blast further inside the base, his judgment had been good there, it was a lucky cover.

The dust hadn’t even fully cleared yet when Impulse started moving heading for the hole to peek through, quickly he realized they could have dug their tunnel deeper because this led to some sort of shaft for lowering equipment or something down to the floor below. He had to admit silently, from what he could see the white concrete structure was a far cry from what his nightmares had waved in his face. He glanced over his shoulder as the other two hippies joined him. Another explosion sounded, louder now without the wall to muffle it, it definitely came from somewhere down below, it was followed by a string of shouting that the elevator wasn’t working.

“Sounds like we have our least favorite Captain to contend with down there.” Impulse whispered.

“He sounds distracted, let’s see how far we can get without alerting him.” Grian whispered back, before spreading his wings and lightly pushing off from the hole in the wall, drifting down to land softly below, he looked all around before looking up and waving for them to follow. Impulse didn’t hesitate, hopping down and allowing his wings to bring him to the ground below in a soft float. Rendog landed right after him, all three of them staying low. Quickly surmising where Captain Angry Eyebrows fighting with the lift they headed down a different hall to avoid confrontation for now. There weren’t a lot of holding cells in this hall, one had slime oozing out from under the door in excess amounts and the sign that likely said something to do with that but it was also coated in residual slime, making it impossible to read. The cell opposite though, had a sign on the wall beside the door that read: Subject 42J; Contained for examination, potential alien exposure, speaks only in metaphors.

Impulse snarled, looking around for a way to open the door.

“Wait, who is this?” Rendog asked in confusion as that name hadn’t been in Cub’s information.

“It’s Joe.” Impulse answered, locating a switch and with a great deal of effort as it was no easy lever to push, flipped it. There was a noise from within the wall and the door started rising out of the way, stopping about half way up, which was more than enough to get in and out.

Laying in the middle of the floor, wings and limbs outstretched was Joe, he looked a few steps away from being a bearskin rug, motionless. Rendog rushed in to check on him before dragging Joe out of the cell before the door could decide it was going to close with them still inside.

“When did this happen?” Grian asked, concerned as he helped check Joe over.

“It’s my fault, he wanted to try and talk some sense into Doc.” Impulse sighed, kneeling on Joe’s other side, he was still breathing and with the hushed commotion around him he was starting to stir.

“I think he’ll be fine.” Rendog whispered and glanced around for a decent hiding place to drag Joe over to so they weren’t just out in the middle of the hall if Captain Angry Eyebrows decided to come this way.

“Wha- what’s going on?” Joe asked as he came around, shaking his head slowly.

“That’s what we are wondering, you alright?” Grian asked quietly, indicating for Joe to keep his voice down, which he did.

“Last thing I remember was a magnificent flash, it was like the sun was giving up on all that is precious and expanding to consume us all. It all gets hazy after that. Are we dead?”

“No, we are all very much alive, my dude.” Rendog assured him.

“Oh good, I wasn’t ready to leave this corporeal form behind yet.” Joe admitted before sitting up and rubbing his head, glancing around.

“We’re under Area 77. I tried to tell you not to bother with Doc.” Impulse frowned.

“Well now I think it was at least worth the effort, not everything is always as hopeless as it seems and Doc is a good person deep down, even if he doesn’t seem like it right now.” Joe said but as he spoke Ren looked away, his expression doubtful or maybe conflicted. Joe missed this though as Ren was behind him.

“For now we need to just find Tango and get out of here.” Impulse said.

“Tango  _ and _ my time machine.” Grian interjected.

Joe just stared silently at Grian as if he’d said something insane, which, Impulse figured, he had. Just because he hadn’t questioned it didn’t mean no one would.

“I’m serious, you’ll see.” Grian said with a dismissive wave and turned his attention down the hall.

“Sounds like the coast might be clear.” Impulse noted, cautiously sneaking back towards the intersection of halls. He glanced back and the others were following his lead, including Joe who didn’t seem keen on getting caught again. They crept into the opposite wing, moving cautiously as they didn’t know for sure where the militant captain had gone.

“It’s here! I knew it!... what are they doing to it?” Grian exclaimed as quietly as he could when he spotted a large white box up on a pedestal hooked up to pipes and machines.

“Grian… there are a lot of potential problems with this device if it truly is a time machine.” Joe frowned, concerned.

“It’s fine, I know how to use it.” Grian assured him but Impulse’s attention waned from their conversation as he looked into the cell across the hall from the time machine. The wall was made of glass aside from the large rolling door in the middle, inside the cell was an  _ entire house _ . It looked like a really nice place and Impulse instantly set to looking through the glass to see if Tango was anywhere to be seen, however, there was only a villager wearing a Grian mask.

“Grian, look who’s here.” Rendog called quietly, having also taken note of the contents of the cell.

“Oh he’s safe! Actually, that looks like a nicer place than he had back in New Hermitvill.” Grian noted thoughtfully.

“He looks happy.” Rendog noted and Grian nodded.

“I think he’s safest here, he’s got everything he needs in there, at least for now.”

“That just leaves Tango to find.” Rendog noted as Impulse stepped away from the glass to look for another cell and there was one more at the end of the hall. He wasted no time hurrying that way, catching sight of the sign next to the door which read: Subject 41T; suspected of alien influence.

Impulse snorted at that, looking for another switch and throwing it with a heave, he expected the resistance it gave and he had no patience to force it slowly. The door grinded into motion, rising slowly. The scene on the other side was much more peaceful than Impulse could have hoped. Tango sat on a bed, leaning on the back wall of his cell, a half-eaten apple in one hand and reading a book he held in his other. His wings were draped lazily at his sides, even in the light of ender rods his wings practically glowed. The black scales stretching over the structure of his draconic wings were as black as the void and the red between held more of a shimmering luster than even the purest of gems. Of everyone with draconic wings, his were the largest and most magnificent, in that moment they were a sight for sore eyes. As the door opened Tango glanced up, the book and apple instantly getting tossed to the sides and he sprang forward, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit instead of his usual clothes but Impulse hardly cared because…

_ That beautiful laughter was ringing off the walls. _

“Impulse! You have no idea how happy I am to see you!” Tango said, laughing.

Impulse stumbled several steps forward but the gravity of everything was pulling on him like an ocean trying to drag him under, countered only by the level of relief and rush of joy at seeing Tango again, of hearing his laugh. Tango’s embrace couldn’t come a moment too soon, muscular arms followed by powerful wings wrapping Impulse like a blanket of love. In that moment everything was finally right with the world. He clung to Tango tightly, as if letting go would somehow cause him to vanish again. There were tears in Impulse’s eyes, blurring his vision and his voice caught in his throat, despite how badly he wanted to say those three simple words he couldn’t force them free.

“What did I miss? You look like you just came back from war, and not the fun type either.” Tango said, much more concern in his voice this time.

“Why don’t you two step out of that cell?” Rendog spoke up and Tango shuffled them out, realizing that was probably a good idea.

“You missed out on a ton! We’re hippies now, and we’re about to be time travelers.” Grian said excitedly from the platform with his time machine, forgetting to be quiet. Rendog headed up with him to help pull the Area 77 equipment off of the delicate machine while Joe just shook his head from just in front of the platform.

“I really don’t see how a box of quartz is going to take us anywhere, I mean, sure our imaginations are powerful things but this is more than anything I’ve ever witnessed. Even if it does work though, who is to say it hasn’t been tampered with, you see these are some serious concerns and perhaps we should opt for taking it apart and just taking it somewhere else?”

“Joe, just trust me will you?” Grian asked flatly, the tone of someone who did in fact know what they were doing and tired of the naysayers.

“Alright, we’ll see it in action then, then I’ll draw my conclusions. I cannot help but worry about the state of the very fabric of reality though.” Joe admitted.

“It’s fine dude, I swear.” Grian insisted.

While they bickered back and forth another sound caught Impulse’s attention, snapping it to the hallway and his heart nearly stopped at what he saw. Without warning he pulled free of Tango’s comfortable hold and moved to get between him and what he’d seen, drawing his sword, flaring his wings out wide and rushing the newly presented threat. He’d just gotten Tango back, he wasn’t going to let anyone else threaten that happiness, not Doc, not Scar but especially not the Angry captain. He heard Tango scream out his name behind him, heard Grian and Rendog yelling as well but their words were lost in that moment.

Captain Angry Eyebrows fired his crossbow and for a split few seconds all Impulse knew was blinding pain but when it faded he was still on his feet so he continued his rush, swinging his blade at the Captain who jumped back, leaving Impulse to rush again, that was until the second round of rockets hit him point blank and he was actually thrown back. As he hit the ground he heard his sword clatter away from him but he saw a blur of brown feathers as Joe rushed past.

“There isn’t enough room in there for all of us, get Impulse to safety, my friends and I’ll deal with this, I won’t be taken by surprise a second time!” Joe called as he tackled the aggressor, knocking his crossbow away before picking him up. A powerful beat of Joe’s wings took him and Captain Angry Eyebrows into the air and he flew out of the shaft in the ceiling.

Impulse tried to push himself up off of the floor but his entire chest and his arms screamed in searing pain, sending him right back to the floor in a daze.

“Try not to move.” Tango’s voice came as his arms wrapped around the wounded hermit, lifting his lover into a careful carry before rushing back towards the time machine. Every step Tango took sent a new wave of pain through Impulse, it made it difficult to think clearly, the world around him quickly going into a fog. He could taste blood in his mouth and vaguely it registered how hurt that might mean he was. There was only one thing he cared about at the moment though and that was Tango’s embrace, holding him close, the thing he’d missed most was now the anchor he had to hold onto.

“This had better work Grian, he’s hurt really bad… damn it we should have brought more potions with us.” Rendog said, frustrated with himself for the oversight.

“It’s fine, I can get us out of here…. There’s a piece missing, maybe it wasn’t important. Okay, we’re off.” Grian said confidently, only wavering a little when He realized something was missing.

“Just hang on handsome, we’ll get you to help.” Tango said softly, holding Impulse carefully and applying pressure to the wounds on his chest. It was all the more painful when the machine started to move, with a shake and a clunk, it was more jostling than Impulse could really endure at the moment. The world was spinning and his vision felt weak, fuzzy.

“Not… gonna… let go.” Impulse said stubbornly, trying to offer a carefree laugh but it caused him to cough, a cough that left the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

_ That couldn’t be good _ .

It was getting harder to sort his thoughts and surroundings but he didn’t miss the look in Tango’s eyes before everything went dark. Of the fear there, of the worry but also the hope and love. It gave him something to cling to as the darkness rose up to claim him, a single red thread to clutch.

-+-

When Impulse came to again he was somewhere bright and sunny, he could hear the sounds of blocks being hastily placed as well as hastily gathered but looking up he saw Tango still holding him, Impulse was settled across Tango’s lap, one arm cradling his shoulders, one wing wrapped around him. Tango’s other arm was holding something to Impulse’s chest, Tango was also missing his shirt, which normally would have been a sight Impulse was perfectly happy to just bask in but the intense pain drew his attention to his own chest, where the missing shirt had been folded and was being pressed. Impulse couldn’t see the wounds he had sustained because of that but from the amount of blood soaked into the fabric he could only assume it was bad.

He looked back up to Tango but his boyfriend’s attention was on the area around them, watching attentively for danger, the slight grimace he wore spoke of the less than safe place they must be in and that worried him a little.

“Tango?” Impulse spoke softly, not liking the weak shake to his own voice. Tango’s attention snapped down to look at Impulse, there was a hefty amount of concern in those red orbs.

“How you holding up, handsome?” Tango’s voice was gentle, he knew that physically Impulse was a wreck, that wasn’t what he was asking about.

“I’m… better with you here… but where is here?” He asked, forcing his voice as level as he could, it took a lot of effort and Tango seemed to notice.

“We’re… in the past. Just conserve your strength okay? It’s a bit more of a detour than Grian expected but him and Ren are working hard to fix this.” Tango assured him.

“Shelter is built Tango, you get him where it’s safe and we’ll start digging.” Rendog called and Tango nodded before letting go of the makeshift rag to move Impulse’s hands to it.

“Try to hold that in place, alright?” His voice was so gentle and so laced with concern that Impulse just wanted to hug him and tell him he’d be fine, but he wasn’t sure about that fact so he followed as he was instructed. His arms burned in protest but he ignored the lesser wounds there as Tango swept his free arm under Impulse’s knees and stood, carrying him to the hovel of a temporary house that had been thrown together very quickly. The fact that it had windows and some form of structure at all had to be Grian’s doing, but the half dirt roof was no doubt Ren’s, likely just to annoy Grian. Speaking of the builder, he held the door for Tango as he carried Impulse inside, the look that Grian gave Impulse was a mix of worry and guilt. Tango got settled in a corner of the room out of the way, carefully settling Impulse back in his lap and returning his hand to the bloody compress, gently caressing Impulse’s hands as he did.

“You’re going to be alright, you just have to hold on.” Tango said, holding Impulse’s gaze again and Impulse wanted to assure him he would, to say anything but, as he listened to the others talking nearby, the crackle of a fire in the furnace, he realized his strength was bleeding away, he couldn’t waste breath on an empty promise, no matter how hard he chose to fight. Without potions or even clean first aid supplies… he didn’t stand much of a chance. So instead, as the darkness started rising through the pain again to grip him, he chose his words a bit more carefully.

“Don’t blame them.”

-+-

“He’s in rough shape, we have to hurry.”

“Don’t kill yourselves digging.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t really mad at me, to be honest.”

“You’re his only chance, especially now. I’m upset but that can wait.”

“Maybe we should split forces for a bit, I’ll keep digging you see about finding some food, no one is going to save anyone if we all starve to death.”

“Yeah… good point, just don’t get hurt down there.”

Impulse’s mind wavered so close to waking, he could hear the others talking but their voices were a blur, he couldn’t tell who was who but he could still feel Tango’s embrace and that’s all he really needed to cling to. He batted away thought that he was doomed and just continued clinging to the feeling of closeness to the one he loved, refusing to just give up and let the reaper take him.

-+-

He had no way of knowing how much time had slipped past the next time he managed to wade through the darkness and open his eyes again. It was late, stars dotting the sky outside the windows, the little cottage was quiet aside from the crackling of torches and Tango’s breathing. It was then that Impulse realized there was a hitch in Tango’s breaths, slightly louder with the weight of distress, and Impulse recognized what that meant; Tango was crying. He wanted to wrap his lover in a hug, to assure him all would be alright, that he was right there, but he wasn’t strong enough to move, he couldn’t even turn his head to look at Tango, his body just not responding to his commands. It was frustrating and his heart ached at the sound that he could do nothing about.

He was pulled from his own frustrated thoughts when he saw someone come from the floor… there was a hole, a staircase of full blocks, he realized, watching as the other hermit tried in vain to dust themselves off before turning around. It wasn’t until he saw the dust smeared face that he recognized Grian. A look of panic and dismay filled Grian’s features as he took in the sight of Tango and Impulse.

“No… Impulse isn’t…” Grian trailed off, not even willing to finish the hearwenching question. It was a bit chilling how it took Tango a moment to respond, it was more to gain control of his voice but the hesitant started to make Impulse wonder if he was indeed dead.

“N-no… He’s still breathing but… He’s… He’s gone cold.” The level of pain and grief in Tango’s voice was unmistakable, the fear of what seemed was going to be inevitable. That little fact alone made it abundantly clear they were fast running out of time and Impulse had to wonder if he could manage to survive even if they managed to reach help right then. He didn’t want to give up, but he was worried his body would make that decision without him. Even when he blinked, it was a struggle to persuade his eyes to open again, his strength so rapidly fleeting that any hope of seeing another sunrise was fading fast.

“We’ve almost got what we need to get out of here…” Grian said softly as he came over and knelt beside them, gently turning Impulse’s head so he could see Tango, who glanced that way with concern. He met Impulse’s eyes, only then realizing he was awake. Impulse didn’t like seeing those crimson eyes filled with tears, it didn’t suit them and made Impulse wish all the more he had the strength to wrap his arms around the other hermit. Gently Tango rested his forehead against Impulse’s own.

“You hear that? We’re gonna get out of here… you aren’t allowed to let go now. Please Impulse… don’t leave me.” Tango said, so much desperation and fear wrapping his words it was like he was being strangled by despair. Impulse drew in a breath and gathered what little strength he had left, forcing his mouth to move with a will far brighter than his body could match.

“Tango… I…”  _ love you _ .

He wasn’t entirely sure how much of the phrase he managed to say as the darkness reached for him again with a vengeance, as if punishing him for trying so hard to defy death.

“Impulse? Impulse! Hold on damn it! You aren’t allowed to die here!” Tango said through sobs, distantly Impulse could feel he was being shaken but there was nothing he could do. Just before the darkness could claim him completely he heard one more voice.

“I’ve got the last of them! Let’s get out of here.” He was fairly certain that had been Rendog but he just couldn’t spare anymore focus to it as his consciousness was dragged away. His heart hurt for all the pain he knew his death would cause. He didn’t want to let go, still stubbornly hanging onto anything but it was an uphill battle and in the back of his mind he knew.

_ It was too late. _

…

…….

……….

………….

…………….

………….

………..

…….

…

Somewhere through the darkness, somewhere in the endless abyss of nothing he heard  _ something _ . Something strong enough to draw his attention, to pull at his mind, like… an explosion. He followed the echoing whispers that followed that sound, he heard voices, shouting, angry, panicked but he couldn’t place them, couldn’t find them. Eventually they all faded and he was left wandering the darkness alone, he wasn’t sure what happened, or what had been said, or who had been speaking. He felt like he was missing something, his heart ached for something he couldn’t remember, something he felt was out of reach.

The last thing he ever expected while wandering through the unending darkness was to  _ wake up. _

-+-

Voices distant yet close, speaking softly, warm sunlight on his face, the scent of fresh air, of flowers and the scent of food being cooked. Slowly he blinked his eyes open, half expecting the glare of the sun to be right over him but he saw only gray and purple above, the sun pouring in through the open walls to either side and it took him a moment that they were at False’s base. Turning his head towards the voices he saw Cub, Doc and Xisuma gathered around a group of potion stands and talking quietly while they waited on their brews to finish. Just past them was a couple of smokers where TFC and Stress were chatting and keeping an eye on the food, Iskall landed near them, appearing from the sky to set down a couple of shulkers. Past the potion crew to the other side Impulse could see Cleo and Joe making rolls of bandages, False was flitting from one group to another, making sure everyone had what they needed for their appointed taks from the sound of it. A slightly pained sound drew Impulse’s attention another direction and when he looked he saw Grian laying in another bed, Mumbo sat beside him and wrapping Grian’s arm as gently as he could, a dirty bandage laying in a pile at mumbo’s feet. From what Impulse could see it was a fairly nasty burn.

Finally a soft meow drew Impulse’s attention closer to the bed he lay in, sitting on the ground to his right was an absolutely miserable looking Scar, Jellie in his lap. Scar was petting Jellie and not looking at Impulse, not realizing he was awake yet. Laying half across Impulse and mostly piled on the ground on the other side of the bed was Tango, his face against Impulse’s side, one arm draped over the wounded hermit and his rhythmic breathing suggested he was asleep. With a small smile Impulse reached up to run his fingers through Tango’s hair, relieved his body responded to his command again, even if he did feel weak it wasn’t nearly as bad as before. Curiously he glanced at himself, he was wearing a clean, fresh shirt, he could see bandages running down his arms past the sleeves and pulling his shirt up a bit he could see the bandages wrapped ‘round and ‘round his chest. That movement didn’t go unnoticed.

“You’re awake!” Scar said, sounding relieved to the point of tears and looking up, those tears were there. It was clear Scar had been very worried.

“Yeah, had a promise to keep, a reason to survive.” He said, glancing back to the still sleeping and oblivious Tango. Scar smiled a little as he glanced between the two but it faltered and he bowed his head.

“I’m sorry… this was my fault.”

“Forget about it. I forgive you.” Impulse said, without an ounce of hesitation or need for explanation.

“You… do?” Scar said, looking up in surprise.

“Yep. Things got a bit intense, got to the extreme but I don’t blame anyone else for me getting hurt but me. I chose my own actions.” Impulse said firmly, not leaving any room for argument.

“Still… Captain Angry Eyebrows is retired and gone for good, he won’t have the chance to hurt anyone else like that.”

“Probably for the best. I’m glad you’re alright, Impulse.” Iskall said as he joined them, kneeling to wrap an arm around Scar and reach down to pet Jellie with his free hand. Since Iskall hadn’t bothered to speak quietly he drew the attention of the others, Xisuma appearing from behind him to kneel beside Impulse.

“How are you feeling, Impulse? Are you alright?” Xisuma asked, his voice holding all the concern and warmth of the caring leader he was.

“I’m awake and I can tell I’m recovering. I’m good.” He assured Xisuma with a smile.

“Good, I’m glad. You’ve had us all very worried, my friend.” Xisuma informed him.

“What is all the commotion about?” Tango muttered groggily as he lifted his head, slight distress crossing his face seeing how many people had clustered close until he realized that Impulse was awake, not dead.

“Hey handsome.” Impulse grinned and Xisuma moved to give the two love birds a bit more room as Tango pulled himself up and forward until he was over Impulse. Before Tango could say anything witty or ridiculous Impulse reached up, running his fingers through Tango’s hair before taking a gentle grip and pulling him down for a kiss. It was a long missed experience that made Impulse’s heart rise and flutter but ending all too soon for the battered hermit, though with as breathless as it left him he supposed he understood why.

“I was so damn scared I was going to lose you.” Tango admitted, resting his forehead against Impulse’s again.

“I said I wouldn’t let go and I meant it. I said I loved you and I meant that too.” Impulse said softly, caressing Tango’s cheek.

“Life would lose all its color without you.” Tango said softly, wrapping an arm around Impulse, carefully sliding it between bed and wings and making sure not to squish too hard.

“I understand completely, happiness doesn’t exist in a world without you in it. I thought I was going to lose my mind… maybe I did a little.” Impulse sighed and Tango pulled away to look at him before gently pulling Impulse up with him, back into a hug.

“Things got crazy, I think everyone went a little insane. It’s okay.

Impulse nodded, hugging Tango and looking out across False’s base where everyone had set up their temporary little hospital, reminding him he wasn’t the only one wounded.

“What happened to Grian exactly?” Impulse asked, realizing the burns had to have happened while he was fighting for his own life.

“He decided the time machine was too dangerous and blew it up. We were all clear enough for a TNT blast but not really for the machine itself, we were clear but Grian was way too close and got burned pretty bad but he’ll recover.” Tango explained and that brought a new wave of worry as he glanced around.

“Where’s Ren?”

“His base gathering supplies.” Tango said soothingly, instantly chashing those worries away.

“Everyone’s safe and no one died.” False said, coming over with a couple plates of food, offering the two a bright smile. Tango moved to sit more behind Impulse so he could lean on him and focus on food rather than trying to keep his still healing body upright.

“It’s a huge relief.” He admitted, accepting the delicious smelling steak and potatoes. 

“Agreed, those two have decided to shut down Area 77 so all this nonsense can end, finally.” She explained as Ren returned, Wels arriving with him, helping carry supplies. Those set down Wels met False on her way back towards the others and asked if there was anything else he could help with. She, after glancing at the others, suggested he sing a few songs. He agreed and generally everything settled down, with a round of food and a loving atmosphere it was a far cry from how this all started. Eventually Joe and Iskall both got pulled into the musical fun and gave the hermit with the heart of a knight a break to enjoy Stress and TFC’s cooking.

Impulse leaned into Tango’s arms and generally just enjoyed the evening with everyone there, good music and good food.

There were no hard feelings, everyone was happy and alive, just as they should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And BB told you guys to be afraid of me, pssh, no one died!  
Not even the foxes.
> 
> Now, there was a bit much and too many hermits here in the end to dedicate any wing descriptions. If your curious just ask and I'll tell you what wings they have. Of those shown of course. They will be shown later in future fics too, so they aren't getting neglected. I just didn't want to break the flow of the story for that many descriptions.
> 
> Also, shout out to BastardBin, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have gotten back into the series and I certainly wouldn't have written any fanfiction for it. If you've found me and not them I highly recommend their work, especially: The Weight of Lies.
> 
> The next fic in this series of mine is coming soon!


End file.
